Cry Baby Gum
Extra-sour bubble gum with a crying cartoon mascot and a sour coating that fades once you start chewing. It came out in 1991, and the maker promised the tears would last only 40 seconds.
Cry Baby came from the Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corporation, a family-owned company in Havertown, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, that had been making gum under the Swell brand since the late 1940s. Its catalog included El Bubble gum cigars, Magic Colors and Doggie Man hot dog gum. Cry Baby Extra Sour Bubble Gum arrived in 1991 and was named Candy Marketer's Product of the Year. The company's own kid-facing website later marked the date with a 10th birthday in June 2001, in the mascot's voice: "I was born in 1991, my Father was grapefruit and my Mother was a lemon! My Swell family named me Cry Baby because I was Extra Sour!" The site also made the product's main promise: "You'll only cry for 40 seconds." The sourness is in a coating that disappears soon after you start chewing, and the brand grew to include Cry Baby Tears sour candy. It's sometimes confused with Tear Jerkers, a separate sour gum from Charms.
The Fenimore family sold Philadelphia Chewing Gum to Concord Confections, maker of Dubble Bubble, in 2003, and the Havertown factory closed that year. Tootsie Roll Industries bought Concord in 2004, and the Havertown plant was torn down in 2011 to make way for a YMCA. Tootsie still sells Cry Baby Extra Sour Bubble Gum as gumballs and twists, alongside Cry Baby Tears, chews and wax-bottle mini drinks.
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