Hey! Is that Bubble Yum bubble gum?! Down into the fiery pits of level 1 with you!

One more entry before I have to leave for the day!

Remember the bubble gum wars of the late '70s? It was a bit like the soup wars of the current decade, in that the battles were fought fiercely in TV ads.

Bubble Yum's commersh mascot was the Flavor Fiend - who appeared to be Cookie Monster's orange-haired cousin. YouTube once featured another commercial that contained the ol' Fiend, but apparently it got removed because of the feewinghurt induced by people (and puppets) bubbling. So now the only usable Flavor Fiend appearance on YouPube seems to be this 1977 ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b56tfNiAiI

"Hey! Is that Bubble Yum bubble gum?!" the Flavor Fiend loudly asks. This inquiry appears to have influenced a common saying from when I was in high school years later. This saying was delivered in a drill sergeant voice and referenced the level system that characterized teen "treatment" facilities: "Hey! Is that Bazooka you're chewin'?! Down into the fiery pits of level 1 with you!"

I always thought the bubble gum commercials of the time were amusing in that a person always made a big spectacle of squeezing the piece of gum to demonstrate how soft it was.

I also wonder how they got the puppet to bubble.

Another observation: Early in the commersh, when the pack of gum is being passed along, notice that they're holding the book they're reading upside-down.

I guess the Flavor Fiend learned to read upside-down and now gets everything backwards. So maybe now he's a media exec who follows tabloid scandals while ignoring important stories like Bush forging the Iraq letter as an excuse to start a war.