The very first Gum Fighter ad? (Bubble Gum Weekend)

Have we finally found the very first TV commercial for Hubba Bubba bubble gum ever to hit the airwaves?

Aaaww! I think we did!

It's from 1979, and you can tell because the Gum Fighter's sideburns were bigger. However, this appears to be the British version of the ad rather than the American version. (I've described before how the jingle in the British version was sung in a British accent.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE1re4uNpN0

"There's gonna be a gum fight!" laughs the Fighter's trusty sidekick.

As was often the case with these ads, the Gum Fighter blows the germs off the wad of gum after he peels it off his face.

I've also discussed how bubbling experts feared the introduction of Hubba Bubba would decimate their hobby. But once everyone warmed up to the ol' Fighter, bubblers were disappointed that too few stores carried this product. Meanwhile, Bubblicious - with the old logo that blew a bubble - proliferated wildly at grocery checkout lanes.

This was also back in the days when kids who were shopping with their parents knew how to exercise more restraint when demanding the oldsters buy them candy at the checkout lane. Nowadays, probably no brand of bubble gum is easy to find there, because parents just give in and buy it all.