Say It Ain't So, Joe: Bazooka Bubble Gum Is Killing Its Tiny Comics

[NFS4]

Nooooooooooo!!! I used to love reading these as a kid (and still do, even if the humor is a bit corny)

Total domestic sales of bubble gum are projected to total $206.9 million in 2012, from $332.4 million in 2007, a drop of 38 percent, according to Euromonitor International, a market research firm.

Bazooka bubble gum, which was introduced in 1947, fell even more, from $17 million in 2007 to a projected $8.8 million in 2012, a drop of 48 percent.

Now, in what the brand is calling a reimagined Bazooka, it has overhauled its logo and packaging.

Gone is the red, white and blue color scheme and geometric design of the brand, replaced with more saturated hues like fuchsia and yellow, and with the splattered-paint look of graffiti.

The new packaging is by Goodwin Design Group, of Wallingford, Pa., which also undertook a less pronounced Bazooka package redesign in 2006. It will begin appearing in stores in January.

“What we’re trying to do with the relaunch is to make the brand relevant again to today’s kids,” said Anthony Trani, vice president of marketing at Bazooka Candy Brands, a division of the Topps Company.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/b...rhauls-brand-and-loses-comic-strips.html?_r=0

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...bazooka-bubble-gum-is-killing-its-tiny-comics

 

[zinfamous]

Raise your hand if you had no idea that bazooka joe was still around.

 

[ElFenix]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn8irnsmu9w

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

“What we’re trying to do with the relaunch is to make the brand relevant again to today’s kids,” said Anthony Trani, vice president of marketing at Bazooka Candy Brands, a division of the Topps Company.

Yet another corporate clown who thinks packaging will make bubblegum "relevant." Want to make bubblegum relevant? Bring back baseball for kids. Oh wait, we killed baseball to prevent Bobby Joe from getting a scraped knee and his parents from suing the school system blind. Maybe show intense xBox action with Bobby Joe chawing his way to pwning noobs?

 

[petrieslastword]

Every product doesn't need extreme packaging. Jesus.

 

[arrfep]

Raise your hand if you had no idea that bazooka joe was still around.

When I was a kid, I used to buy them one at a time at 7-11 because at 5 cents a pop, no tax was incurred, but two would cost me 11 cents.

I miss the days when a single penny was worth working for.

 

[midwestfisherman]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

[dennilfloss]

I remember when they were 3 for 1 cent. Chewed a lot of Bazooka Joe but loved Black Cat even more.

A bag of chips was 2 cents. A bottle of Fanta was 5 cents. My allowance was 25 cents a week.

 

[BladeVenom]

Maybe they should replace them with QR codes.

 

[dennilfloss]

How will the kids get spy rings and other catalogue stuff if they can no longer accumulate comics? I remember getting a plastic scope.

 

[lxskllr]

Yet another corporate clown who thinks packaging will make bubblegum "relevant." Want to make bubblegum relevant? Bring back baseball for kids. Oh wait, we killed baseball to prevent Bobby Joe from getting a scraped knee and his parents from suing the school system blind. Maybe show intense xBox action with Bobby Joe chawing his way to pwning noobs?

You're so right it hurts. Aside from that, Bazooka's shitty gum. It's irrelevant regardless of the colors on the package. They should have gone the other way, and used the original packaging, with the original comics, and sell it to boomers who want to go back to childhood for a little bit.

 

[Triumph]

That was the worst bubble gum ever. Hard as a rock and lost flavor after about 15 seconds. Gave your jaw a real work out. The only thing worse was that chinese gum covered with chinese letters on the packaging and came with a fortune.

Give me some Big League Chew. Best gum ever, came in a cool pack that made you feel like you were dipping, just like all of your favorite baseball stars! Good stuff.

 

[Fritzo]

Their gum turned into a rock-hard flavorless brick. If they wanted to increase sales, keep the comics, remind people they're still there, and MAKE THE FREAKIN' GUM BETTER. A decent sugar-free version would be nice too.

 

[TuxDave]

Raise your hand if you had no idea that bazooka joe was still around.

I did only because I saw it in a candy shop one day. The first thing I said when I saw them was "this is the worst gum ever". Seriously those things lost their flavor and turned into rocks instantly.

 

[dmcowen674]

Another Corporate idiot, color me surprised.

 

[Born2bwire]

You're so right it hurts. Aside from that, Bazooka's shitty gum. It's irrelevant regardless of the colors on the package. They should have gone the other way, and used the original packaging, with the original comics, and sell it to boomers who want to go back to childhood for a little bit.

Yeah, the gum starts out really hard, and then if you chew it long enough I think it even breaks down (I don't know why, but some gums are doing this now, especially Juicy Fruit). The only gimmick it had was that it was sold in individual pieces and came with a terrible comic.

 

[vailr]

That was the worst bubble gum ever. Hard as a rock and lost flavor after about 15 seconds. Gave your jaw a real work out.

Bazooka Bubble Gum, when relatively "factory fresh", was NOT "hard as a rock".
Only if it sat on the store shelf for several months, did it become more difficult to chew.
It was the only gum available that would enable the blowing of large bubbles.
And: the fold-out comic was more entertaining than most newspaper comics.
Plus: there was always a "mail-in 125 comics and get (something free or low cost)" offer in the lower right corner. There was also a short "fortune" or humorous quote of some kind (in tiny lettering) at the bottom.

It seems like there was also a similar-packaged competitor brand of gum, called "Yahoo" or something, that eventually went out of business. This was around the year: 1960.

 

[bigrash]

Noooo! Used to love them as a kid.

 

[Meractik]

Fruit stripe!!! ohhh yea!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSTGOyDFPrU

Anyone else remember how you could use the inside of the wrappers and get them wet to use as temporary tattoos?

 

[HeXen]

I thought their bubble gum was crap when I was a kid. Though better than the stick of colored glass that came in Garbage Pail Kid card packs.

 

[Triumph]

Bazooka Bubble Gum, when relatively "factory fresh", was NOT "hard as a rock".
Only if it sat on the store shelf for several months, did it become more difficult to chew.
It was the only gum available that would enable the blowing of large bubbles.

So who is going to sit outside the factory waiting for that fresh out of the oven tasting gum, like it's a bakery? Nobody. 4 or 5 people in the thread agree, it was hard gum.

 

[HeXen]

yeah, it was hard gum definitely, likely why i thought it was crap. Wasn't brittle hard but certainly very stiff at best, the factory bs is bs, it's not a bakery. Now Bubbleicious...that was gum

 

[Fritzo]

Fruit stripe!!! ohhh yea!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSTGOyDFPrU

Anyone else remember how you could use the inside of the wrappers and get them wet to use as temporary tattoos?

I think Fruit Stripe goes back to the 1950's. I remember seeing commercials for it on Sat. morning cartoons in the 70's.

Juicy Fruit! Now there's a gum that modernized and is still selling well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ppBCsHhKpI

 

[Born2bwire]

I think Fruit Stripe goes back to the 1950's. I remember seeing commercials for it on Sat. morning cartoons in the 70's.

Juicy Fruit! Now there's a gum that modernized and is still selling well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ppBCsHhKpI

Juicy Fruit is, without a doubt, the worst gum I have come across. It tastes off from the artificial sweeteners they added and the gum literally breaks down after a while. I don't know what they did to the recipe but it used to be my favorite.

 

[Doppel]

Those comics wee awful beyond description BUT I always read them anyway and this is sad