"bubble yum" news and stories

Bubble Yum bubble gum has a new flavor coming out starting in early December 2006, Hershey's Chocolate flavored Bubble Yum. This brings the flavors up to 16 for the first soft bubble gum, which was first released by Lifesavers back in 1975. I remember buying my first pack and being able to blow huge bubbles. Then having to get my mom to freeze, cut, and pry the gum out of my hair and eyebrows. Man was that fun, especially when she accidentally clipped my ear and I bled like a stuck pig.

Sales were pretty big back then, especially in the NY area, and Bubble Yum was the gum to chew. Then in 1977 rumors flew about how there were spiders eggs in the gum and sales plummeted. So the company took out full page rebuttals in the NY times and dozens of other newspapers across the country. Well, I guess sales rebounded and now it's one of the best selling bubble gums with several imitators. So much so that Hershey's bought the brand in 2000 and of course Hershey's Chocolate flavor Bubble Yum was a sure bet. Thinking back I seem to remember some other soft chocolate bubble gum that I tried as a kid but I can't just can't pin down the details. Maybe Bubbilicious made a chocolate flavor?