If you call yourself an older millennial, then you definitely grew up with Fruit Stripe gum, its wildly erratic zebra mascot, and the brightly colored sticks of gum with bold fruit flavors that lasted almost as long as it took you to read this sentence. Almost.
However, according to Fruit Stripe’s manufacturer, Ferrara Candy, the gum is being discontinued. (That’s big news to anyone who didn’t think it was discontinued about the time “Hannah Montana” went off the air.) “We have made the difficult decision to sunset Fruit Stripe Gum, but consumers may still be able to find the product at select retailers nationwide,” a Ferrara Candy representative said in a statement.
Fruit Stripe commercial from the 1960’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUKenR9k238
Fruit Stripe gum had the unfortunate distinction of being the most delicious thing you’ve ever put in your mouth, a total whirlwind of flavor… for five seconds. Then it’s just sugar, then shortly after that, it’s just nothing. It’s like something Willy Wonka would have wished for on a monkey’s paw.
Don’t forget it smelled fantastic too.
Don’t tell anyone, but I have a pack I literally keep to smell. Do my kids know about it? Nope.
As an older millennial this is the most amazing description of this gum that I wish I would have thought of.
Man, that is perfect. Just thinking about it, I could mentally taste it. God only knows how long it’s been. It was a truly remarkable flavor.
The taste I imagined was probably stronger than the taste after the first 5 seconds. Lol.
Never lasting gobstopper.
It’s the crack of the gum world.
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Ah yes. The memories of a few minutes of flavor and a few more of sadness as you chew hoping it would return.
I’ll never forget that time at 6yrs old when I just kept chewing. It eventually just disintegrated and I was left with the consistency of old wet kleenex. I had to literally scrape my tongue to get rid of it all.
You got the flavor to last for several minutes??! I swear it lasted maybe a dozen chews or so and then lost all flavor.
It looked like something that I really wanted to love, but within seconds it was pure disappointment.
Good times!
It was gone five minutes after you put it in your mouth. But the memory is forever.
if you call yourself an old millennial
Shut up, that was some old-school Gen X shit.
Ugh, whatever
5 minutes? Try 10 seconds.
Tried but it only lasted 6.3 seconds.
I only got 6.9 seconds
There was a short time around 1977, during which my wildest fantasy of the best and happiest thing that could possibly happen to me (short of truly fantastical and nigh-impossible things like going to Disneyland, which I wasn’t yet sure really existed) would have been to receive multiple packs of Fruit Stripe gum.
It was boomer shit lol. It first came out in 1969 when younger boomers were hitting childhood and adolescence.
Gen X was from 1965-1979
Yeah so the absolute oldest Gen X were 4 when it came out.
The younger Boomers were 5-15 when it came out.
So you’re basing 58 years of targeted sales at Gen Xers because of, what, kids in 1965 were four years old when it came out? Are you the dumbest person in history, or just the dumbest person here? You do realize that there were years after 1965, right? None of what you’re saying makes sense. 
Could you imagine our reactions if we told ourselves as kids we’d grow up and electronically argue about this stupid shit when we were old. The mix of wonder and soul crushing despair.
if you’re saying that you feel ashamed of yourself, you should.
I guess I feel a small bit of shame for reading this deep in a dumb argument for a laugh, but we all have our guilty pleasures.
Yo, you got some real boomer energy there for a gen xer.
Glad to hear you cry about it.
lol, you’re whole presence here in this thread.
Jesus Christ, everybody just block this fucking guy.
If you haven’t read the thread, don’t bother. Trust me.
“everyone! throw the same tantrum I am! trust me!”
lol
I love you 💋
So the oldest Gen Xers were 4 years old, is the point. Gen X wasn’t the original target demographic, but rather they grew into being good consumers of Fruit Stripe Gum™
are you trying to argue that small children, even 4 year-olds, weren’t in the target demographic for fruit-flavored gum primarily sold in toy stores?
lmao
are you trying to argue that small children weren’t in the target demographic for fruit-flavored gum primarily sold in toy stores?
No
are you trying to argue that 4 year-olds weren’t in the target demographic for fruit-flavored gum primarily sold in toy stores?
Yes
Either way I think you care a lot more about this than is healthy
I’m sorry you can’t see how outrageously preposterous that is.
take a break from the internet for a while… also, pointing out that you’re wrong doesn’t mean I “care about this more than is healthy” but thanks for the high-school level of deflection. cute.
You seem angry about a candy released in 1969 being marketed to baby boomers, who were 5-23 years old at the time. Are you angry about that?
It tasted really good for all of 10 seconds.
yea its gone for a reason
But it was a really good 10 seconds.
Did this stuff come with tattoos?
It did, on the insides of the wrappers. They never worked very well, and even if you could get one to transfer they tended to last about as long as the flavor in the gum itself did.
When I found out they were food dye, I tried them on cookies and they worked so much better on food than on skin.
I vaguely remember that
I always gave myself a half sleeve while eating an entire pack
i had fruit stripe gummies a few years ago and they tasted like ass rubbed with fruit
Like good ass or bad ass?
bad
That sounds badass
I’d upvote you twice if I could for that one
tastes like shit
No no,… tasted brilliant as fuck for,…2 minutes— then like shite.
I can’t say I’m entirely surprised… I distinctly remember getting Fruit Stripe gum because it just looked so cool and being disappointed that it wasn’t actually very good every time lol
It was terrible then, and it’s till terrible now. But I still buy a pack from the local dollar store every now and again, just for the nostalgia.
I guess we still have Bazooka Joe, at least for now.
Yikes! Stripes. :'(
New favorite job title, from the article: “General Manager of the Sugar Portfolio at Ferrara Candy Company”
Ah, beat me to it!
Yay! Awww
can we still chip our teeth on bazooka joe?
Wow the memories. Like everyone said, the flavor lasted for seconds at best. It’s currently going for $140-200 for 12 packs on ebay.
Incredible. It’s the only gum I’ve ever tried that crumbled to bits when chewed. Even just bought, it was like it had been sitting in the Arizona sun for decades.
Never heard of this. Looks like vegetarian bacon strips
They’re worse because they’re just as tough but taste of fruit for all of 5 seconds as opposed to salty smoky bacon flavor
