X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

04/05/2007: Big Red Gum’s Big Red Lie.

You know what used to really tick me off? Big Red gum.

Now, I’ve come to adore Big Red. Big Red helps keep secret smoke breaks secret. But, as a child, I wanted to kill the people responsible for Big Red, who tricked me over and over and over and over again with this one eensy little unforgettable image seen in practically every one of the gum’s television commercials throughout the ’80s:

Big Red is, was and always has been slices of all-red gum of the most basic kind. But the commercials always included the fancy image of the red-and-white striped, sent-from-God stick of gum seen above, and time and time again, I’d buy packs of Big Red expecting what was inside to finally reflect the holy image from the ads. It never happened.

I’ve spent my entire life wondering what I was missing. Was it supposed to represent the wrapper? Well, of course not, because you can see the wrapper in the very same image. Why was Wrigley’s obsessed with perpetuating the idea that Big Red had a big, nice, shiny white stripe when in fact it never had such a stripe? Most importantly, how did I fall for this so many times?

Don’t mean to make a mountain of minutiae, but I was a kid, and for every time I went for a pack of Big Red on the false promises of a fun stripe, I passed up a much tastier pack of Bubblicious. Sometimes even Paradise Punch Bubblicious. That’s plain wrong.

Click here to watch the lousy lying stupid commercial.

UPDATE: Apparently my brain hasn’t been functioning properly for the past few decades. As readers have pointed out, the heavenly red & white striped gum is meant to represent Big Red’s puny competitor. I don’t know how this flew by me. I’m ashamed. But I think we can at least all admit that their representation of the competition is far cooler than what they were trying to peddle. It looks like plastic!

yeah, mine’s always been dusty and red. why i prefer juicy fruit. black jack is awesome, too

Hey
Never posted here before but whatever. Big red does nothing for me. Juicy Fruit is my lover.

See, I always thought the stick of gum on the bottom was the competing brand, shown in its puniness next to a big, honkin’ stick of Big Red.

You know what? You could be right. But I want the puny pleasure of red/white heaven.

Umm…the striped gum isn’t supposed to be Big Red, it’s “the little cinnamon gum that can’t freshen breath like Big Red”. It’s supposed to be the competition. It’s there to show the bigness of Big Red.

Anyway.. when I was little.. for some reason I always imagined the white-striped gum shown in the commercial would taste better than Big Red, so I always wanted that one instead :\

Okay, now I just feel stupid. How did I not catch that? How did I go through my entire life not catching that? Going to hide in a corner for a while…

…and yes I was tempted to edit the article to make it look like I knew that all along.

Don’t feel bad. I thought the same thing. Come to think of it, I haven’t thought about that since I was a kid. I love this site.

Big Red gum is good…but do you guys have Big Red soda in NYC? Its a regional thing, but it’s super tasty. When we would go on vacations out of state and ask for it, people would assume we were talking about the gum, we would proceed to mark that location as a place we never wanted to visit again.

d’oh! that’s okay Matt, oh well.
I always kind of thought that the bottom piece was supposed to be Trident, just from the size, but even Trident doesn’t have a stripe like that.

I usually swallow my gum, unless I’m going out the door from work, in which case I just spit it in the bushes.

Have you been to 7-11 lately? New holograph Spiderman 3 3-D cups with web lids…

Reminded me of the X-Men and Darth Vader Slurpee entries. Plus a new “black cherry” flavor that was pretty awesome.

I use to hate Big Red as a kid because they made it look sooooo good on tv and when I bought it I couldn’t handle it’s cinnamon-ey taste and just how strong it was. I was forever scarred by the first taste I had as a kid and how I immediately spit it out. But as coincidence would have it, I have also recently had Big Red offered to me and I just have to say, WOW. I seriously cannot believe that the flavor of Big Red affected me so much as a kid.

Speaking of 7-11, did everyone hear about how they’re going to make their stores look like Kwik-E-Marts for the release of the Simpsons movie? Complete with Simpsons brand names like Squishies!

Another reason that it’s false advertising: Dentyne, the brand the puny stick is supposed to represent, is much thicker than Big Red, and probably has about the same mass, if not more. Also, I chewed Big Red for years and never once missed my train because the flavor lasted too long while I was kissing my sweetheart.

Aw man, I missed this show so much….and now it’s actually on a channel I get, for now. Wait a minute, I don’t remember Daniel Stern’s name being on the front credits….when was that added? He was famous for NOT being credited as “Older Kevin.”

It replaced Charlie’s Angels, which I thought I’d like, but….that could pass for a children’s program now, seriously.

I know exactly how you feel about the fake stripe gum, I remember thinking the exact same thing now, and that freaks me out.

One that always stuck in my mind was the whatchamacallit commercial with a tiger eating a colorful atom looking orb and I envisioned that was what the embodiment of the bars true flavor.

When I was a kid I thought of Big Red as boring grown-up gum and wouldn’t touch it. I stuck to Fruit Stripe, which is still my gum god when I can find it, despite actually losing its flavor on its way into my mouth.

Oh man! I was also confused about the red and white stick. I remember as a kid thinking it looked so cool but I could never find it. I guess Big Red kinda screwed things up there!

Mystie you nailed one of my fondest memories of elementary school, licking the freakin wrapper and seeing who could keep it on their forehead, forearm, or any other patch of skin longest

i wonder if that still hurts as much today as it did back then, guess i’ll have to go buy some!

I always felt like an ‘adult’ when I chewed Big Red. I was hot stuff, I tell ya.

I like Big Red but i think i’m alergic to fake cimimum. My tounge always got stingy and swollen, has that ever happened to anyone else?

Oh man, up until now I didn’t know Big Red sticks DIDN’T have that white stripe! I feel like such a jackass!

Big Red now reminds me of the story Nickelodeon told a while back about that lady who threw up in the charity box at the McDonalds drive thru. “Everyone calls me Big Red.” hahahahaha…gross.

Eh, don’t feel too bad, Matt. It was only a month ago that I figured out that when people talk about “peaks and valleys” in a person’s life, they mean the peaks to represent the good parts and the valleys to represent the bad parts. It just completely threw me for a loop that I could take such a common, cliche phrase and get it completely backwards my whole life.

I still stand by my original interpretation, though. Mountaintops? Rocky, freezing, thin air, nothing living. Valleys? Green, fertile, warm, sheltered, generally have a river running down the middle. Cradles of life in a hellish rocky wasteland. What’s so great about peaks and terrible about valleys?

I never realized that was supposed to be the competitor’s gum either… I was thinking “maybe they offer it in two different gum formats, one being a regular stick and the other being a smaller, Trident-sized stick.” Hmm. What was up with Trident wrappers supposedly being edible? Was that true? I know I ate a few, because you can eat paper and it’s not a problem, but was that always just a stupid gum urban legend?

Black Jack, Teaberry, and Clove gum all rule. Doublemint and Juicy Fruit are the best mainstream gums though… When I drive up to the mountains to see my parents, I pass the Wrigley’s factory and the entire interstate smells like Juicy Fruit or whatever gum they’re making that day. INCREDIBLE. Makes me want to drive my car right into the factory, Kool-Aid man style, and swim in a vat of liquid juicy fruit.

Umm…sorry for the back-to-back, but that extra little “Black Jack,” at the end of my post was an unexpected surprise… hmm.

Akbar Big Red soda is made in Texas I think, but for some reason we have it in Indiana too.

Jedoc: That interpretation makes perfect sense to me. If it helps the original intent make more sense, think about it like a Sine wave

Big Red is indeed made in Texas. We also (at least in Waco and few other very select markets) have Big Peach, which is like Big Red, but with peaches. And it is God’s gift to us on earth.

And don’t worry, Matt, looking at the commercial, I also was confused about the gum with-white stripe. Thing is, what gum is that supposed to be? Was there any gum that had a white stripe like that?

Tommy I remember visiting Texas way back, and going to some hole-in-the-wall diner. When I asked the waitress what soda they had, she rattled off, “Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Big Red.” In the thickest drawl I had ever heard. And I naturally just needed to try it. Although there’s no way to describe the flavor. Not that it’s that spectacular. It’s just undescribable. (IMO)
Thanks so much for that commercial Matt. I completely remember it. As I was reading the blog I was a bit confused about the opinion of the sizing up of the gums. But I got here after the “update” so now I got it.

I think it was supposed to be a competitor’s wrapped stick of gum, and the white stripe covered the brand name - sorry if someone else posted this while I was typing this…

So I get that the lil’ red and white gum is, like, the competing brand, and I was alive in the 1980s, but I have not ever once seen lil’ gum like that.

Hey everyone, I hope I haven’t been gone long enough to make you all forget about me. However, in case I have, let me remind you that I am in the Army and I’m currently serving my second tour in Iraq. I really do apologize for being gone so long. I had a problem with my laptop where my adapter burned out and I didn’t have anything to charge my battery. Anyway, I ordered a new one through Amazon that I had to send home and have my mom send out to me (weird, Amazon can send an X-Box console out here but not a computer adapter). I’m actually using a temporary one until my new adapter comes in. Anyway, before I get off-topic which I normally so often do, let me send my post.

First of all, to comment on what Matt was saying in his blog, I never thought anything to be Big Red gum other than the big stick. Of course, I remember seeing tons of those commercials throughout my childhood. I wonder what advertisers find so amusing about showing people kiss for long periods of time. Didn’t CloseUp toothpaste try something similar with people kissing long periods of time with their commercials. Also, to Tommy and kb, I’ve been in Texas for a couple years (my home away from home for I am stationed in Ft. Hood when I’m not deployed, but my real actual home is Chicago) and have never come across Big Red soda. Okay, maybe I have, but I never affiliated it with Big Red gum and never tried it. I guess I would have to do so when I get back to the states.

Anyway, nothing new to report here. Anyone have big plans for Easter. I’ve tried having a little Easter countdown with ordering Easter themed DVDs and watching as many as I can. I’ve only managed to watch Will Vinton’s Easter special (which is on the same disc as the Christmas special, and there’s also a Halloween special which I will save for my Halloween countdown this year), the old “Easter Bunny Coming to Town” starring Fred Astaire as the voice of a train conductor, and being Holy Week I had to watch the classic made-for-TV movie “Jesus of Nazareth.” No, I’m not planning on watching “The Passion” for Good Friday, at least not this year. Other than that, I probably won’t watch much other than “It’s The Easter Beagle Charlie Brown” and The VeggieTales’, “The Easter Carol.” I have other Easter discs that may have to wait until next year to be viewed. I see Fat Albert has an Easter special. I know about the Halloween special, which by the way is also on DVD, but the Easter one is a new one to me! Oh well, never too late to start planning for next year.

Other than that, I have a package my mom sent me of Easter candy. I devoured the bag of LifeSaver jellybeans she sent me. I honestly think they taste better than Jelly Belly. Plus she sent me two bags of Cadbury Minieggs of which one now is no longer! Now that I think of it, there was other candy I could have asked for but forgot such as Marshmallow peeps, Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs, and these chocolate marshmallow eggs that my dad used to always get every year. Another family favorite treat!

Well, that’s about all from me for now. I hope to get on for this week’s SNT. Of course, with it being Saturday night here, it’ll only be the afternoon back home. Oh well, I hope it’s never too early to start SNTing!!!! Hope to hear from you all and if not, Have a HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Jedoc: Peaks are exciting, have a better view, and more expensive houses. Really though, I’ve never heard ‘valley’ as a negative word before, except in the term ‘happy valley’, but even that’s just opinion.

Big Red gum, SNES, and Doritos were my weekends as a kid, so the commercial was one of my favorites. I always thought that in the US that the gum had a white stripe and thats why whenever I bought it the stripe was missing. I also thought thats why Kit-Kats looked different on TV.

This also reminds me of the Juicy Fruit commercial, I always had to put the gum in my mouth the same way it was shown. Thats why I don’t like gum with the shell covering on it.

Mystie: I licked the wrapper and put it on my forehead in high school. I had a red mark for the rest of the day.

I remember chewing cinnaburst and for some reason I think the wrapper was edible as well. I’m I mistaken?

I remember that Big Red commercial. I didn’t give a shit about Big Red. I wanted to know where I could buy some of that red and white striped gum!

In my Sunday (Cleveland, OH) newspaper among the flyer w/ coupons I saw a .55 cent off coupon for VANILLA Big Red. What’s THAT all about? Has anyone tried it??

I’m currently on a Vault’s Berry Blitz and Tommy Knocker’s Almond Creme soda kick right now.

I love Big Red soda. It is nearly impossible to find here in Atlanta. Fortunately Kroger sells a generic version that tastes virtually the same.

Oh, and by the way I’d also like to recommend SoHo’s Cola in the large 40 oz cans found at your local Big Lots. Made with pure sugar cane, baby!

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but the director of A Christmas Story, Bob Clark, was killed early yesterday morning.

Was famous for Porky’s and Black Christmas as well. But hey, I’ll remember him for Rhinestone

It’s probably been years since I’ve even chewed gum at all. I need to get on it! Fruit Stripes here I come! (not really, that was the worst)

What was with the fad in the 90s of making gum in the shapes of everything imaginable? I had a gum CD in a jewel case, I kid you not.

The red part of the smaller gum reminds me of the stick that came in Handi-Snaks (sp?) for spreading the oh-so-deliciously-fake cheese on your cracker.

And for the record, I think Big Red tastes completely different now then when I was younger…But that’s just me.

I detest Big Red and most other cinnamon-based flavored food products. Too much cinnamon scent gives me migraines and too much cinnamon makes my tongue swell. So whoever asked, yes, I do believe it’s an allergic reaction.

I was a Big League Chew kinda gal myself. That and GatorGum, the Gum by Gatorade.

Somehow I remember that commercial, but I was born in ‘87, so I’m not exactly sure how. O_o

Here’s a fun new activity that I’ve started doing recently: Watch a commercial and purposely misinterpret it. For example, in this commercial, a couple each chews a piece of Big Red, and then they kiss all night into the morning. But do they actually kiss? Oh no, they died. Big Red killed them and caused a fast-acting rigor mortis. Big Red also causes you to miss the bus to your big life-changing football game. Etc.

Oh yeah, this is my best example and what started my game: That Capital One card (I think) commercial where people buying stuff is like a big, fast-acting machine. But then, one guy pays with cash. Then, everything is thrown off. Chaos ensues, and everybody there turns on him. So what does Capital One do? Using their cards turn you into an elitist jerk, forcing you to prey upon those who prefer the stability of using cash.

Cinnaburst AND Mintaburst or whatever the name was had edible wrappers. But they make the gum taste terrible.

To those who wondered about small cinnamon gums, yes, Trident did have a cinnamon gum, but the sticks were actually shorter than the one in the picture, and the wrapper was not red, it was white with the word “TRIDENT” written multiple times on the wrapper in red print.

On another note, does anyone else wonder why all cinnamon-flavored products such as gum and candy are red, when natural cinnamon, and cinnamon sticks, are brown, and do not taste anything like the gum and candy products? I mean, can you imagine sprinkling something like Red Hots(TM) candies on your French toast on Saturday morning? I’m sure some of you can, but I sure can’t!

Well cheetos don’t exactly taste like cheese, either. Besides could you imagine if cinnamon products tasted like real cinnamon.

Alright, I’m just looking for an excuse to share the exploits of this lovely chap

I also remember thinking that Big Red was supposed to be striped when I was little. Apparently, the whole comparison went over my head. I’ve never liked cinnamon flavored things. The only exception is Fireballs. I love me some Fireballs.

Does Big Red Soda taste at all cinnamon-y? I’m curious. When I was living in Idaho, they had something called Red Cream Soda…which I had never seen before. It tasted only slightly different than normal Cream Soda, though I could never put my finger on it. Does Red No.5 have flavor?

Any one else ever try Jolt Gum? You can find it at Spencers or Eckerd (it’s cheaper there) and it actually has caffeine in it…and it works.

Didn’t Shel Silverstein write a poem about a girl who always chewed gum, and one night, while she was asleep, her jaw started chomping out of reflex, and she chewed her own head off?

I answered my own question using the ever-reliable wiki. Big Red soda is “the original red cream soda”. And it is created by adding orange and lemon oils to the traditional vanilla flavor. Now I know. And now, I am going to get lost on wikipedia researching random stuff for a few hours.

Holy crap….
I had forgotten about the little red/white piece until your article. I was in the same boat you are as far as wondering how they got that little red/white piece out of that Big Red wrapper.
If it makes you feel any better, I have a doctorate degree and was apparently equally oblivious to the “This is the competition” motif.

If you’ve never had Big Red soda, it would definitely be worth it to buy a case online or something and get it shipped.

Don’t worry Matt. I also didn’t know the same thing about the striped. Probably because this is the only gum commercial I remember that actively did a comparison to its competition. Even, today, all they say “We last longer than other brands.” There is no gum company feud. We’re not talking Coke vs. Pepsi or McD’s vs. BK here.

Didn’t Shel Silverstein write a poem about a girl who always chewed gum, and one night, while she was asleep, her jaw started chomping out of reflex, and she chewed her own head off? I really hope so.

Has anyone here tried the new Dentyne Tango-Passion Berry? I think its shit- like Juicy Fruit, but…not.

Thanks to whoever mentioned the edible Trident wrappers, you just made me google “edible gum wrappers”.

I know I remember eating the wrappers of some type of gum on purpose at some point in my life. I just don’t remember when/where/WHY?? Now I can’t rest until I find out!

Alright, folks, mystery solved. I am pretty sure that we used to chew up the wrappers of Fruit Stripe gum (Yikes! Stripes!) While trying to remember what kind of gum it was, I kept thinking of zebras, so I googled “zebra gum” and came up with Fruit Stripe. This is the gum that had the tattoos and stuff on the wrappers too. I might be getting my gum memories mixed up, but I really think this is the one.

Also, anybody remember Ouch gum? It came in a tin case like Band-Aids. What marketing genius came up with that???

Also, anybody remember Ouch gum? It came in a tin case like Band-Aids. Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one???

I’ve had gum from a tin case like Band-Aids but I don’t remember it being called Ouch gum.

I miss when you could buy candy cigarettes that came in little Marlboro and Kool (or was it Kent) packs. Those made kids look so fucking cool. Then someone had to go and tell the government that kids shouldn’t be pretending to smoke as it sets a bad example.

Also, I used to eat my candy tarts in the shape of fish bones and other garbage in little garbage tin containers. Yes, I was quite the gimmick whore as a child.

No wait, I had gum that came in a gameboy shaped container and has sweet trading cards for gameboy games. Okay, now I’m positive I don’t have anymore memories of anything.

I think I had ouch gum, it was in a tin case like Band-Aids. And then I filled the tin with marker filters when I stayed up til 2 am, back in first grade.

Trash can candy? I still have a few of the cans. Never much cared for the candy though.

And, I thought they still made cigarette candy? I’m remembering this guy I knew chewing a candy cigar, but that was about 8 years ago. Wow.

Hey this is a little off topic but I had to share.
Monster in my Pocket is coming back! http://monster.inmypocket.com/
You can see all the new toys there. It looks like it is going to be pretty cool!

Ohhh man, that image of the big red compared to the other gum will forever be etched in my head…its that big red commercial and the bubble tape commercials “six feet of bubble gum, for YOU not them”, that dictated my chewing habits back then.

The real kicker with the Escaflowne box was the fact it was super hyped at the time, and I too didn’t particularly enjoy the movie either. Not until I had seen the entire series and then watched it afterwards. The movie is a reimagining of the series in a shortened form. The thing that irked me even more was when Bandai rereleased the series in a box package set that INCLUDED the movie for the same price I paid for JUST the movie. I bought it though, loved the series and had a new appreciation for the movie afterwards but man, it wasnt worth that initial ridiculous investment for a DVD of extras I never watched and a soundtrack I never cared to listen to. Blegh.

The Fox version was HEAVILY edited. I have no idea why they chose that for Saturday morning fodder, it seems too inappropriate and would need massive editing. Thats probably why they abandoned it, that and low ratings.

They still have candy cigarettes down here, but the packages no longer attempt to mimic real cig packs, and they’re called “candy stix” instead. Got pictures of the Statue of Liberty and fighter jets and things on the boxes. Worst of all, they no longer dye the ends red to make it look like the coal of a burning cigarette. Kids who wish to look cool have no idea which ends to stick in their mouths. They still taste a bit like solidified Pepto Bismol, though, so I still pick them up every now and again.

On a related note, “Stranger Than Fiction” made me want to start smoking just so I could someday use the line “No, see, I don’t need nicotine patches. I smoke cigarettes.”

At the store today, I see that Shrek Cheetos are back–you know, the ones that turn your tongue green.

They still make Ouch Gum and everything. It’s usually relegated to the novelty candy section at the grocery store.

Don’t be ashamed, actually, I always thought the same thing! And I’d be disappointed when the real gum didn’t have the cool stripe. It’s odd, when I was younger, I used to chew gum all the time, but now I think I hate it… I bought some at the airport last week and have only chewed 3 pieces since, and even then I only chewed them for about 4 minutes.

The competitor is Dentyne. It used to come in a foil pack with those small pieces lined up. They may have looked smaller but they were as thick as 2 or 3 pieces of Big Red.

Dentyne comes in individually foil & bubble packed chicklet type pieces now. For all of you that always wanted to try the ‘competitor’

As I was reading the story I knew it was the other guys gum. I knew that when I was 6 years old. Try getting your facts straight sir….. BTW I like BIG RED better then the stupid white stripe.

Now that I’m looking at the “competitors” gum (and like everyone else I agree that they are referencing trident) , I think its made to look like what a pack of trident looks like (well, what it looked like back in the 80’s and early 90’s), white in the center with the color of the flavor on the top and bottom.

Hmm…I used to be fond of Mintaburst as a kid (loved the little minty spots in it), and I don’t remember the wrappers being edible. Was that a limited time thing, or maybe something they came out with later?

And while we’re on the subject, do they still make the stuff today? I never see it promoted the way it used to be.

I know Botan rice candy has a rice edible wrapper on them that melts away in your mouth, from what I’ve heard. But that aint gum but close. I know I have heard of people thinking that the wrapper is edible and it’s not, if you like the nasty taste of paper then be my guest. I guess when I finally get chocodiles I’ll try to get big red soda all in one swoop.

It’s ok, I always thought it was Big Red too. I thought they were lying jerks too.

Yeah, I thought it was supposed to be Big Red. They really should’ve pointed that out, because I knew a guy who painted his truck red with a white stripe down the middle. The name on the truck? “Big Red.”

Similarly, a long time ago Golden Grahams featured marshmallows mixed in with the cereal on their boxes. Boy was I pissed when I poured a bowl of Golden Grahams and no marshmallows came out.

You are not alone my friend. Today is the first day of my life that I now know the striped gum is not Big Red. WTF!? I never bought the stuff but assumed they changed the way it looked recently because I’ve had friends give it to me. The striped gum always looked better which is why I assumed it was Big Red.

Seeing that pic brings back memories. I fondly remember the narration of the commercial now, or at least the beginning of it, “No little cinnamon gum [small piece is displayed] freshens breath longer than Big Red.[BIGGER Big Red piece is thrust into view]” .

“Big Red ” the soda, is, well, RED flavored. ‘Nuff said. Always make sure to pick up some when I see it.

Oh, and Draco, you might be thinking of “S’mores Crunch” or “S’mores Grahms” , 2 different graham-based incarnations of the same cereal that i first remember in the 80’s. (Matt? Write-up possibility?) MUCH MUCH better than the toxic puffy smores cereal that’s out there now.

Add A New Comment!

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 12:43 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.