Today I want to pay tribute to one of my favorite classic television commercial icons from my childhood, Mr. Owl!
The classic "How Many Licks?" Tootsie Pop commercial was created by the ad agency Doner, debuting in 1970 after a 1969 soft launch.
The original extended spot had a questioning boy ask a cow, a fox, and a turtle before reaching Mr. Owl.
But eventually, the creators realized that the segment with Mr. Owl worked best on its own, leading to the tighter iconic 30-second cut most viewers know today.
Mr. Owl was voiced by legendary voice actor Paul Winchell, famous for voicing Tigger in Winnie the Pooh and Gargamel in The Smurfs. The questioning boy was voiced/played by Buddy Foster.The narrator's closing line—"The world may never know"—became a permanent part of American pop culture.
Over the decades, many real-life groups and student studies actually tested the math, finding it takes anywhere from 400 to over 1,000 licks to reach the chocolate center, proving Mr. Owl's "three licks" answer was purely playful.
Mr. Owl is such an iconic and honestly, endearing memory from my childhood that I actually recently purchased a t-shirt depicting his image. Interestingly enough, I was never a big fan of tootsie pops, although I do credit them with introducing me to the wonderful combination of orange and chocolate! To be honest, I'm not even sure what flavors they make anymore, is the orange flavor even still a thing? Overall I was more of a tootsie roll girl.
So what about you, do you have a favorite memory of a commercial from your childhood? What was your favorite Tootsie Pop flavor? Join the conversation in the comments! :)
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