Epic Win: Fruit Stripe Gum
Submitted by Cammie
Three types of gum chewers emerged from the legions of children that chewed Fruit Stripe, the fleetingly flavorful gum – people who chew gum for the initial burst of flavor and not much longer, people who chew gum until long after it’s turned to a flavorless lump of wax, and people who hate gum.
Who knew you could still buy Fruit Stripe Gum? We sure didn’t.
Here’s one of the original Fruit Stripe commercials:
And here’s the commercial that probably doomed Fruit Stripe to obscurity after the 80’s:
this also reminds me of the popcorn that came in all those unnatural colors, it was promoted by that dude from nick arcade….it came in blue, green, red….i have a craving for gum and popcorn now O.o
I am a sufferer of gum amnesia! I chew it so infrequently, that I forget how much I hate it…
Then I buy some, chew it a short time and end up spitting it out, usually while yelling “Why the hell did I buy this, it’s awful!”
Then time goes by and suddenly I want gum again.
oh man! i loved that popcorn. it didn’t have any flavor, but it was just awesome!
It’s still awesome today. I once sent away for a zebra poster after collecting wrappers– never got it.
/pats D.r. compassionately. perhaps over compassionately.
the flavor went away in about 4 seconds…
Bleh. Yes it did. This stuff was awful.
Aahhhh, but what a delicious 4 seconds it was!
Hehe, yea, no wonder the packs were so big!
But it was such pretty gum, if it only had 4 seconds of flavor.:)
that was the only bad part…it was really good for teh 4 seconds the flavor lasted then it was like chewing a rock
Holy spork! I remember that stuff! I want some now. =(
The tattoos were awesome.
I remeber one time on a long car ride, my friend and I had a pack of fruit stripe gum, and by the time we got to where we were going we had tattoos all over our arms.
Speaking of cars…I love going to the car wash where they have three different colored cleaners….and when it sprays on the car, I swear, It smells just like fruit stripe gum. The last time I washed my car, I had to go buy the gum because I couldn’t get it out of my head. Crap, now I’m craving it again.
Whaddaya mean, arms? I always put ‘em on my tongue! Slightly more difficult, but infinitely more cool.
OMG! I saw some at CVS the other day. I used to love this stuff.
LOL! My dentist used to give me this stuff after our cleanings! Guess he figured if there was only enough sugar for 4 seconds of flavor, it wasn’t enough to rot our teeth.
Wow, I had no idea this gum had been around for so long; I always assumed it was new in the 80s/90s.
Same here I thought it was new around 86 when I was in 3rd grade.. used to love that stuff too.. so what if it didn’t last you could always chew more..lol
what do you mean “doomed to obscurity?” that commercial is all i can think of when i see fruit stripe gum! and do they still have the tatoos?
The ad seems so.. obscure. thats what they mean. i think..
I was just gonna say that if I recall correctly, this stuff was horrible. Great packaging & marketing though.
TEABERRY FTW!!
I was one of the kids that chewed it long after it turned into a flavorless lump of wax.
It was fun to continue stuffing pieces of that stuff into your mouth without spitting out the old ones, though. If you did it right you could have flavor (and enough gum to coat your entire face after the bubble pops) for a good twenty minutes.
LOL…I did that too, kept piling more and more gum in my mouth hill the pack was gone.
Hah, same here! Oh, memories…
I know they sell them at most rite-aids too. same thing as CVS really.
This stuff was the first gum my mom ever let me chew, back in the early 90’s when she figured I was old enough not to get it all over my hair :p loved this stuff!!!
That second commercial has some terrrrrrible animation. But wow,the old ones were graphic genius, and the gum was very tasty(if only for a few seconds)
The voice over from the second commercial sounds familiar. Kind of like Phil and Lil from Rugrats? Meh, too lazy to look it up myself.
I TOTALLY thought so too!
it is =D
I remembered it from like… Fry’s younger version in Futurama, or something like that.
I totally remember them because of the awful tattoos that never worked.
OMG I remember that 80’s commercial! I probably saw it alot during all the cartoons I watched. =D
I do too! I was grinning from ear to ear during that. Watched it with TMNT, probably.
Normaly I hate comercials, but I LOVE that second one. I vividly remember watching it saturday mornings between cartoons.
Speaking of cartoons, some one needs to put Reboot up here.
holy crap, that show was awesome…oh and what about pepper ann, and recess? that was pretty much my saturday mornings
i love this stuff!!
i get 5 more packs every week at sheetz and crackerbarrel.
kinda have to get five packs, the flavor only lasts about 5 seconds.
5five5five… and now i want some….
Yipes Stripes!!
.
heh. eh. eh.
this stuff is delicious. They sell it at certain supermarkets around here, I keep end up grabbing a pack when I see it. mmm, sugary-”fruit”-flavor gum. What does it taste like? Good? that’s not descriptive!
Fruitstripe gum was and is gross. Nauseatingly so.
i used to chew that gum alot… dunno why.. i think cuz my dad would buy it for me.. and is it just me or did the tattoos taste like cotton candy? cuz i swear i remeber licking them and tasting cotton candy.
This gum is the best. But sadly it gives you all of 10 seconds of flavor.
the elixer flavor of 5 gum tastes EXACTLY like this stuff
Yipes, stripes! Fruit Stripes gum! It’s the yummy fruity one – pick a pack of fun!
(I remember that without watching any videos or having seen the commercial in a million years. I don’t think I ever had the gum, either!)
okay, am i the only one who could never figure out what the f**K the chick in the voiceover from the 80’s commercial was saying? other than a word here and there, and of course the “yikes! Stripes!” part, it sounds like gobbledegook, to me.
I haven’t been able to find this gum in ages, but I did discover that if you eat one Lime and one Cherry Mike & Ike, it tastes just like this gum. Go. DO IT NOW!
They still make it. I’ve seen it in the Boston area.
I remeber opening a pack for the first time since I was a kid and the smell took me back.
Anyone else think that Southern Comfort tastes exactly like Fruit Stripe gum? Blech!!!!!
ICK. This tasted like the bubble-gum flavored fluoride the dentist gave us. Thank G-D I’m old enough for mint now.
I actually bought some and chewed the whole pack today. They still have it at Wal Marts , at least where I live.
i always see this gum in a dollar general
great gum, awful for teeth, though.