Epic Win: Pop Rocks
Submitted by M Block
Ah, the humble Pop Rock–it managed to fizz in your mouth and taste vaguely stale at the same time. Also, you could die if you ate Pop Rocks and drank Coke at the same time! DIE!!! The Pop Rock story was kid urban legend, and it was always “my friend said some kid died from these.” “Some kid” had a really rough time of it, didn’t they? Anyway, legend had it that if you did this, your stomach would explode. EXPLODEY DEATH!!!
As much as I love a good urban legend, it’s simply not true. See for yourself:
It turns out that the reason Pop Rocks were pulled from the market wasn’t EXPLODEY DEATH, but the fact that they had the shelf-life of your average fruit fly. Bummer.
1st.
This guy is a jackass. I wish he had exploded.
I love it, no one watched the whole video, he DID explode. Oh, btw, the split second advertising was of him holding up poprocks and coke, a freeze-frame of the part right before it says, “This is not an endorsement.”
i think he meant for real
This is really random, but did anyone ever try these in ice cream like at Cold Stone Creamery? I used to work there and they had this promo with the Robots movie where they’d put cotton candy ice cream with sprinkles, marshmallows, and Pop Rocks, and the Pop Rocks were easily the best part.
One of my cats (who is sadly no longer with us) used to love eating these. Whenever any of us would open up a package of Pop Rocks, he’d show up in short order.
Needless to say, he was a very odd cat.
Am I the only one who sees a split-second flash of what could be subliminal advertising at 1:18? Looks like a coke bottle…
No, you’re not.
I saw it too. “This is not an endorsement”, huh… XD
He did that so it would be the thumbnail for his youtube video. It’s exactly half way through the video.
that’s actually kinda genius
Oh man I remember the first time I ever ate pop rocks.
I was about 3 and we were in El Paso visiting family for Christmas, my cousin handed me some and I freaked out when I put them in my mouth. Now I love them but they are so hard to find around here.
you can still find em at wal greens! i get em all the time
I’ll look there but I’m down in the Houston area, and I never seem to be able to find them.
I think you can get them from corner shops…Only thing about Muslims is that they can get their hands on some pretty old sweets… Like Wham bars all sorts of crap… If your from the U.K your bound to see one round the corner they are practically flooded round every corner…
Cosmic Candy was first, just sayin’… Does anyone else remember it, had like a man in the moon graphic on the package? It was definitely around in the 70’s.
I dunno about anyone else, but Pop Rocks are NOT off the market — I see them all the time here in Seattle.
Isn’t this blog *from* Seattle??
I was thinking the same thing. I see them in tons of stores all the time still, they’re not off the market at all. Not sure where the person who wrote this heard that
They’re not off the shelves!! I live in seattle and i see them every day, hmm… maybe you guys should make sure it’s gone before you memorialize it
They changed them
Honestly, like 2 years ago I had some pop rocks and I had a coke too and I went to take a drink of coke while I had some pop rocks in my mouth and one of my friends flipped….. she was like “NO NO NO!! You can’t do that!” I laughed in her face.
Ok, what made pop rocks go off the shelves ages ago was the fact that they were not the powder kinds we have now. They were actually shaped like rocks (think of jawbreakers). The problem with these is that yes, kids choked on them. They were taken out of the market and then returned with the new form. =)
What? It’s not powder, it’s still the same size and shape as always. And they’re the same size and shape as Nerds, and those haven’t been taken off the market because “kids choked on them.” Plus Pop Rocks haven’t been taken off the shelves at all, you can still get them everywhere.
Exactly my thoughts. I just saw some not a couple of hours ago. I have NEVER seen powder poprocks. IDK if they’d even work right if they were powder. Also, they wouldn’t be Pop Rocks, they’d be Pop Powder.
General Foods was battling “exploded kid” rumors as early as 1979, a mere four years after the product went to market. They took out full-page ads in 45 major publications, wrote some 50,000 letters to school principals around the country, and sent the confection’s inventor on the road to explain to all that Pop Rocks generate less gas than half a can of soda and ingesting them could induce nothing worse in the human body than a hearty, non-life-threatening belch. Despite all these measures, the rumors of the urban legend abound even to this day.
Around 1983, enough pressure become too much and Pop Rocks were taken off the market. What’s less known is that Kraft bought the rights to the product from General Foods in 1985 and then marketed it as “Action Candy” through a company named Carbonated Candy.
Pop Rocks are now back out in the open and are again marketed under their original name by Zeta Espacial S.A. and is distributed by Pop Rocks, Inc.
That means half of us reading this haven’t lived when pop rocks weren’t around. As for powder, it does exist, just not in the little packets at the store. You can purchase it to add to recipes.
Oh, how I wanted that guy to explode. What a tool.
If you ever go to Joe’s Crab Shack they have a awesome pop rocks drink!
That’s why I was leaving a comment – the Pop Rocks Margarita! That thing is awesome. Had one a few months ago and accidentally coated everyone at my table and the next table over with Pop Rocks (oops). ^_^
When I had it the waitress asked if I wanted to add the pop rocks in or if she could do it. I told her go ahead, I didnt know they would fly every where! But it was totally awesome to see everyone turn and look like what the hell was that! lol
willie wonka has a chocolate verson of pop rocks. its chocolte bits that fiz just like pop rocks! it helpes to pass the time at work to walk around and open your mouth to people with your mouth all fizzing!
“EXPLODEY DEATH!!!” is my new favorite catchphrase.
Pop Rocks are delicious.
I liked them better when they were called “Cosmic Dust”.
These aren’t off the market in New York, I can’t think of a single food, snack or candy shop that doesn’t have them.
My best Pop Rocks moment was while watching a movie with my best friend, I had just downed a mouthful when something funny happened, I turned to look at her and laughed, a pop rock shot out of my mouth and hit her in the eye.
These are not off the market anywhere. my friends all over use, britain, and germany can get them. and they have the shelf life of your average lemming, fruit flies are an exaggeration. they actually last over a month in normal temperature
I remember in high school hearing about how these could be used to enhance certain…um…sexual acts…
And I’m not sayin’ whether or not I ever tried it. <..>
I gotta say, my first thought was “Ouch, that sounds painful.” *G*
The original ones were hilarious to throw into the toilet and slam the lid shut! Well I was but a youngster at the time so anything like that was funny…
can you say subliminal messaging?
I still have some pop rocks…
If humans could not burp and fart this could be deadly, but the extra gas preasure gets burped and farted out.
just as deadly as beans and broccoli!
My 9 y/o son said, “They kinda taste like a urine volcano in your mouth.”
I hate Charles Trippy.
LOL…ChalesTrippy =) The “SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE” is just a picture of Charles holding the pop rocks and coke. It is in the middle of the video so that it can be used as a thumbnail for the video.
We have pop rocks at the dollar store in my town, they are fun
Not just “some kid” — MIKEY, the kid who like Life Cereal!
Oops, should be “liked” Life Cereal. Proofreading Fail.
I don’t know if this has been covered or not but you can order them online.
http://www.poprockscandy.com/