Fruit Stripe gum discontinued after more than 50 years of sales

Fruit Stripe gum lovers will need to stock up while supplies last because the Ferrara Candy Co. has decided to stop selling it after 55 years.

The gum, which comes in melon, peach, cherry, lemon and orange flavors, may still be found in select retailers until they run out.

The candy company had been selling Fruit Stripe since 1969, but the gum was discontinued due to sales trending downward.

“The decision to sunset this product was not taken lightly, and we considered many factors before coming to this decision, including consumer preferences, and purchasing patterns — and overall brand trends for Fruit Stripe Gum,” a Ferrara spokesperson told The Washington Times.

Both detractors and nostalgic fans of the gum noted its fleeting flavors.

“RIP Fruit Stripe Gum. Despite the truth behind the memes of it lasting a brief time, the flavor for that brief time is unmatched in the chewing gum world,” one user wrote on Reddit.

In a reply to that post, another Reddit user said, “This was by far the best tasting gum as a kid and the flavor only lasted for about 15 seconds so it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for me to go through one of these in a day 😅.”

A poster on X mourned the brand mascot Yipes the Zebra, who was featured in temporary tattoos that came with the gum.

“I know the flavor didn’t last very long, but those first couple seconds of each stick of gum was pure bliss. Thank you for all of the good times & great memories! You will be sorely missed, Yipes the Zebra,” the post read.

Another post on X was less nostalgic and negatively compared Fruit Stripe to competitor Juicy Fruit.

“Literally the worst gum ever made, except maybe that licorice gum. At least with Juicy Fruit, you can kinda recognize what it USED to taste like in 5 minutes, with Fruit Stripe it’s completely void of flavoring of any kind after 10 seconds,” the poster wrote.

Ferrara did not mention the fate of Fruit Stripe gummies, which launched in 2022.

“We have a great iconic business in Fruit Stripe, and now we’re taking that equity to gummies,” Ferrara Chief Marketing Officer Greg Guidotti told Food Business News in 2021. At the time, sales of Fruit Stripe gum had gone up 4.5% from 2020 to 2021.

The Ferrara Candy Co. has not yet responded to a request for comment from the Washington Times.