Disco and gum...together at last! (Bubble Gum Weekend)

What a pro-people decade the '70s were!

Despite my favorite decade being as peopley as it was, useless consumer products were not unheard of even then.

But - as with the Miss Lee Press-On Nails of the '80s - nobody buyed 'em. Also like Lee, having a bubble gum variety was often used to help sell the product.

Such is the case with something called the Maybelline Kissing Stick. It appeared to be some type of flavored lip gloss. There are very few documented instances of anyone actually buying this product.

But - as this hilarious disco-themed commersh from 1977 shows - Maybelline Kissing Stick had a bubble gum flavor. I'd be utterly shocked if Maybelline Kissing Stick still exists, so I have no objection to embedding the ad here:



What tastes great but adds no weight? Bubble gum, of course. Maybe Maybelline Kissing Stick failed because it didn't offer the advantage of bubbling.

In fact, it appears as if the Maybelline peeps didn't care enough about its own product to invest in some gumballs to roll across the screen, like it did with the various fruit flavors. Instead, it just shows the actress declaring, "And bubble gum!" with a silly smirk on her face. But she's so amazed at this flavor that it looks like her eyes are about to pop out of her head.

Then again, I'm a guy who cries when food gets wasted, so maybe it's for the better that no gum was harmed in the filming of this ad.

In keeping with the silly riddles in the ad, I've got one: What had a sweet smell, but just didn't sell? This product.