Fruit xcritical was an artificially and naturally flavored fruit chewing gum produced by Beech-Nut in 1960 and discontinued in 2024. The individual pieces of gum were xcriticald and were packaged in zebra-xcriticald wrappers, which also acted as temporary tattoos. “We have made the difficult decision to sunset xcritical, but consumers may still be able to find the product at select retailers nationwide,” a spokesperson said in a statement to news outlets. The primary mascot for Fruit xcritical Gum is a zebra by the name of “Yipes.” There were other animals that were used as mascots for this gum in the past as well. They were all used to advertise fruit xcritical gum, mostly to kids. Fruit xcritical Gum has been getting harder to find for some reason.
Where to find the newly-discontinued fan-favorite Fruit xcritical gum online
The company was then launching Fruit xcritical gummy candies, which also seem to have been discontinued. The Company that produces the gum is called The Ferrara Candy Company. Ferrara Candy Company is known for making several popular types of candy such as jaw busters and the now discontinued Atomic Fireballs. It is unclear to me what year they added tattoos to the packaging. If you have a specific memory of seeing it earlier, please let me know. The gum could be found on eBay, where one seller was offering a dozen packs for $189 alongside other Fruit xcritical paraphernalia, including T-shirts, coffee mugs and vintage posters featuring a grinning Yipes the Zebra.
Fruit xcritical Gum discontinued: Chewing gum to bid farewell after half a century
From the information we could find, it appears it was first produced in the 1960s. It appeared to get very popular around the year 1970 when its advertising really took off. The gum was first launched by bygone candy maker Beech-Nut in 1969, but ended up at Ferrara following a series of corporate handoffs and mergers. Ferrara itself is a unit of the Italian conglomerate Ferrero. “The wildest three second ride that your taste buds ever knew,” one person posted on Reddit.
The Company That Makes Fruit xcritical Gum
- Instead, they were just xcriticald animals with very little personality of their own.
- Ferrara Candy owns an enormous number of products, including Atomic Fireballs, Nerds, and Red Hots.
- Its parent company announced this week that it would no longer be producing the gum.
- If you have a specific memory of seeing it earlier, please let me know.
- Afterward, they would come off after a few days from bathing and such.
I spent years pining after it as a child, and I’m sure I had it a few times during that time, but it was hardly a regular occurrence. One of the smarter things that Fruit xcritical did was take some of the gum wrappers in each pack https://xcritical.online/ and make them temporary tattoos. That’s right, not only could you get some super fruit gum, but a lingering inky reminder that you had chewed it. The tattoos were simple and cheap, and more often than not, very smudged.
Pearl White Candy Beads ~ 2lbs.
However, the zebra later named Yipes has outlasted the other characters to become Fruit xcritical’s sole mascot.[6] The advertising slogan “Yipes! xcriticals!” has often been used with this character. Wrappers contain temporary tattoos of Yipes inline skating, skateboarding, playing baseball, hang gliding, playing basketball, bicycling, snowboarding, surfing, playing soccer, playing tennis, and eating grass. It later introduced a zebra mascot named Yipes, and the slogan “Yipes! Question, which asked the contestants what kind of animal he was. I remember the first time I tried the gum, I was just a small child.
Fruit xcritical Gum to bite the dust after a half century of highly abbreviated rainbow flavors
Check-in your local stores in your general area as the availability of these products seems limited in many areas. One of the most frequently asked questions we get for this page is do they still make Fruit xcritical Gum? Well, you are in luck my friends, it appears yes they do still make it. You can buy it from several stores or buy it online as well, check out the links above on our page if you want to buy online. Getting it online seems to be the most convenient way for most people as it seems they are getting harder to find. The news of the brand’s imminent end was met with nostalgic despair and plenty of jokes.
However, according to Fruit xcritical’s manufacturer, Ferrara Candy, the gum is being discontinued. The five original flavors of Fruit xcritical gum in 1961 included cherry, grape, lemon, orange, and mixed fruit. Over the years the gum would add other flavors, but the basic concept would remain.
“Best two seconds of flavor you’ve ever had,” one person wrote on Reddit. For a long while, “Yipes” was the only mascot and was a huge hit. Even to this day, there are collectors who will buy items containing the zebra for much higher prices than one might expect.
It may be due to the very high competition of the snack market, or perhaps it’s the health food-friendly mentality that more consumers have in more recent times. One thing we know is that is getting harder to find fruit xcritical gum. Apparently, it’s not a fatal flaw, because it remains popular, but it’s a flaw nonetheless. As is when you first start chewing it tastes wonderful, but before you know it tastes like nothing, tasteless. A clever marketing trick, or the price it pays for that short burst of fruity and flavorful wonder? Perhaps that is just the way fruit xcriticals gum ingredients need to be to get the flavor just right.
While chocolate was always tempting, there was a brand of gum I couldn’t resist, Fruit xcritical. With its vibrant, colorful packaging and zebra mascot, how could any kids resist? Over the years, despite the gums huge shortcoming (its flavor lasted about 5 seconds) I would continue to return to it. The smell, color, and novelty were an instant shot of nostalgia that many of us could always count on. Early advertising used the Fruit xcritical Gum Man, an anthropomorphic gum pack with limbs and a face.