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MEMORIES:
Stratoman remembers...Every kid I knew LOVED these. Tops on our Halloween wish lists, but a big treat any time. What kid ... More »
Posted on 02/08/09
PHOTOS:
How many licks?
Between 100 and 5,800. That's what some 50,000 kids wrote to the Tootsie Roll Company in response to the question, "How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?" The question came as a result of the 1970 commercial in which a young boy asks the question of a wise old owl. The owl's answer (after two licks and a decidedly loud crunch), is three, but the narrator proclaims that the world may never know. Nevertheless, several independent studies have tried to discover the answer. Engineering students and Purdue and a doctorate student at the University of Michigan each built licking machines which came up with varied answers (364 and 411, respectively).
The commercial still airs today, making it the longest running commercial of all time. Therefore, the question it spawned still begs an answer. Of course, the ultimate answer is, "as many as it takes." The ultimate lollipop, Tootsie Pops were created by the thirty-five year old Sweets Company of America in 1931. The rich chocolate flavor was soon joined by raspberry, cherry, orange, and grape. New flavors such as blue raspberry, strawberry, and watermelon have since become popular.
Perhaps the reason for the endurance of "the question" is that the Tootsie Pop isn't merely "licked." It's savored. It's sucked. It's cracked. It's crunched. It swizzles around in the mouth.
Telly Savalas ate them as part of solving a crime (Kojak). Brad Pitt ate them as part of committing one (Ocean's Eleven). It's junk food for the relaxed. It's brain food for the restless. It's the evolution of the popular lollipop.
It's a Tootsie Pop.
