A Popular Fruit-Flavored Gum Has Been Discontinued After 54 Years
After bringing joy to gum chewers for more than half a century, Fruit Stripe Gum is officially saying its goodbyes. This week, Ferrara Candy Company, the gum's manufacturer, confirmed the product's discontinuation.
"We have made the difficult decision to sunset Fruit Stripe Gum, but consumers may still be able to find product at select retailers nationwide," the company recently told The Takeout. Ferrara noted this decision "was not taken lightly," adding, "we considered many factors before coming to this decision, including consumer preferences, and purchasing patterns."
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Launched in 1969, Fruit Stripe Gum was offered in five fruity flavors: Wet n' Wild Melon, Cherry, Lemon, Orange, and Peach Smash. As a bonus, each package included temporary tattoos featuring the gum's mascot, Yipes the Zebra. Like Yipes, all of the gum flavors had a striped design.
Before Ferrara confirmed the discontinuation, one Fruit Stripe fan created a Reddit thread highlighting the product's absence from stores, as reported by The Takeout.
"I was a bit confused when it began disappearing from my regular places I would buy it like Walgreens and Walmart," the Reddit user wrote last week. They then linked to OldTimeCandy.com, which announced the gum's discontinuation, and added that a Ferrara "chat agent" also confirmed the discontinuation.
Since the confirmation of the product's impending departure from stores, Fruit Stripe fans have taken to social media to mourn the loss of the iconic 54-year-old gum.
"I just saw that they've discontinued Fruit Stripe Gum. Pour one out for my first tattoos at 4 years old," one fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Others drew attention to the product's notoriously fleeting flavor.
"I know the flavor didn't last very long, but those first couple seconds of each stick of gum was pure bliss," an X user said.
"They're not gonna make Fruit Stripe Gum anymore and I'm at a loss as to what to chew on now for 15 seconds of flavor," another one wrote.
Ferrara no longer lists Fruit Stripe Gum on its website. The company offers a variety of other nostalgic candy brands, including Fun Dip, Red Hots, Bottle Caps, Runts, Gobstoppers, and Pixy Stix.
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