Tootsie Rolls came out in 1907, and are a very... polarizing... candy, with fans and others who find them loathsome. They sell about 65 million per year, though some of those may be Halloween treats which filter to the bottom of a kid's haul and go stale.

Since 1931, they also sold Tootsie Pops. A 1970+ ad campaign asked, "How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?" (youtube link). Wikipedia alleges this is the longest running ad in US TV history. The matter has also been studied at universities:

In 2014, the Tribology Laboratory at the University of Florida published a study examining the coupled effects of biology, corrosion, and mechanical agitation on the wear of Tootsie Roll Pops. ... The number of licks required to reach the center, based on equatorial cross-section data, was found to be nearly independent of the licking style with the one-sided approach requiring 195±18 licks and the full-surface approach requiring 184±33. Detailed examination of the lollipops indicates that the minimum candy shell thickness is rarely (if ever) located along the equator. Using the global minimum distance resulted in a calculated 130±29 licks to reach the center, independent of licking style.

Here is a 1918 ad from near the end of WW-I.

1918 Tootsie Roll

Unknown date ad, possibly 1950s.

Tootsie Rolls

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[–] 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Nice post!

I didn't know about this community, but might have stuff to contribute...

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 1 month ago* (3 children)

    might have stuff to contribute…

    Please do!

    The best posts, IMO, find some interesting context, factoid, or backstory, which is often possible with vintage ads. Here's one I found a few days ago if you like early 1900s quackery.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Wow, nice work on the research, and pretty awesome how the community chipped in.

    I average over 1post/day across a ~dozen communities, and would love to get that kind of response. oO

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 child)

    In my experience, it's hard to predict how much interest something will get. Several of the topics I thought were the most historically momentous and fascinating, and spent a lot of time gathering supporting material for, got essentially no interest when posted.

    On the other hand, some take off, like Mrs Anderson there. Best you can do is not get discouraged if what interests you ends up being so niche that everyone else yawns :). Some of them are bound to get others enthused too.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 weeks ago

    Oh yes, I know these things well after 3+yrs posting on the FV, most of it at my own community, which is pretty niche here.

    Sometimes it's really just me doing the extra legwork for myself because I find the topic intriguing. But I would guess you know that feeling well, yourself.

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