bl00dy blist3rs Wrote:
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> The new Bazooka Joe:
>
http://www.topps.com/candy/brands/NewBazooka/Bazoo
> ka.htm
>
> The story behind the new Bazooka Joe:
>
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/06/19/060619
> ta_talk_rosenwald#Replay
>
>
> “We had passed from being quaint, cozy humor to
> being your grandpa’s joke,” Cherrie, a
> forty-three-year-old Canadian with a penchant for
> bright-colored shirts, said recently in the Topps
> boardroom, on Whitehall Street. A big part of the
> problem was Joe. “He was a little dweeb,” Cherrie
> said.
>
> Cherrie set out to spruce up Joe’s appearance and
> to surround him with a new group of friends. For
> inspiration, Topps sent researchers all over the
> country to quiz focus groups of children who were
> “claimed bubble-gum users,” as Cherrie put it. The
> kids were asked, “If Bazooka Joe was in a TV show,
> what would he be like?”
>
> “The guy who came up again and again was the guy
> from ‘That 70’s Show,’ ” Cherrie said. “What’s his
> name again? Kutchermare? The tall guy, dark hair.”
>
>
> Ashton Kutcher? “Right. Kind of goofy but lovable.
> Fun. Free-spirited. That was the approach we
> took.”
>
> So Joe, who began life fifty-three years ago as a
> crewcut boy with an eye patch, sprouted a few
> inches. His blond hair grew out and became
> fashionably tousled. He kept the eye patch but
> started wearing his cap backward. To keep him
> company, Topps artists developed five new
> sidekicks, including an excitable German named
> Wolfgang Spreckels. “We want Joe to be beyond this
> Americancentric guy,” Cherrie said. “We have
> aspirations for him to find his way across the
> world. What better way to accomplish that than
> with an exchange student?”
>
> Finally, a Bazooka Joe movie is in the works:
>
http://movies.ign.com/articles/985/985941p1.html
Shocker!