As the rabbit is the star of the Chinese lunar calendar only once every 12 years, 2011 will be the start of an ambitious period for the milk-flavoured "creamy candies", a senior executive at Guan Sheng Yuan Group said.

The sweets, first made in Shanghai in 1943, will be promoted in a pioneering overseas ad campaign and featured in a Chinese animated film tie-in. The company also plans to more than double production and widen its offerings.

"Every year we rank as the number one milk candy in China, so we are always positive about the growth outlook," group general manager Lan Xue told AFP.

"Throughout its history, White Rabbit has always been just a soft candy, but now we're promoting new products like White Rabbit hard candy and bubble gum."

The confectioner has moved on from a trying 2008, when it halted sales in China and 50 other countries after the sweets were found to contain melamine -- an industrial chemical illegally added to Chinese dairy products to make their protein content seem higher.

The scandal bankrupted Sanlu, once one of China's largest milk firms, after six infants died and nearly 300,000 fell ill -- but White Rabbit survived.

The sweets, which contain 45 percent milk powder, were relaunched in China a month later with "melamine-free" labels and banners in stores reading "a healthy White Rabbit is jumping back into a big market".

State-controlled Guan Sheng Yuan does not release specific financial figures, but Lan said White Rabbit sales rose 20 percent on-year in 2010 and net profit climbed 18 percent.

James Roy, a senior analyst at China Market Research Group in Shanghai, said Guan Sheng Yuan's plans for White Rabbit showed it was moving in the right direction.

"I think a way for a very traditional brand like White Rabbit to regain trust from customers would be to modernise the image somewhat," Wolf told AFP.

"I think it makes sense for them not to shy away and be very low-profile but take the brand in a new direction. It is something that is very difficult to bounce back from fully once you get tarred with that image."

White Rabbit's storied history is due in part to the edible rice paper wrapper that envelopes the sweets, fascinating children in China and around the world and helping to make it one of the country's most recognised brands.

The sweets were presented as a state gift to US president Richard Nixon in 1972.

The company's Year of the Rabbit campaign starts with the third animated "Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf" film, a hit children's series that opens in mainland cinemas next week to coincide with the Chinese New Year holiday.

The mascot for White Rabbit's new lollipop line is a character in the film, Lan said.

Guan Sheng Yuan will launch its first-ever White Rabbit ads in Singapore and other markets with large ethnic Chinese populations to "remind them of home", Lan said. Previously, only distributors promoted the brand overseas.

The confectioner will also step up promotions in rural China, where incomes are rising fast and the number of supermarkets is growing with them, the executive said.

"In the Year of the Rabbit, we will place more White Rabbit promotional displays in supermarkets and food shops than ever," he added.

White Rabbit's makers also broke ground last month on a new Shanghai factory to replace its 1950s facilities. The plant will push up production of the sweet by 2.5 times the current level once it is completed in 2012.

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