We’re back with another edition of Urban Legend: Fact or Fiction. In this chapter, we will figure out if spider eggs were ever found in Bubble Yum. So kick back and maybe lay off the chewing gum for a bit.
The Story
Did you know that Bubble Yum was the first soft gum to ever hit the market in 1974, (with a nationwide release in 1976)? But what gives it that soft texture you ask? Well, spider eggs! That’s right this gum gets its soft chewy texture from none other than arachnid offspring.
Variants
The song pretty much remains the same on this one. The only thing that really swaps is sometimes it’s legs or webs that make the gum so chewy. There are also extended versions of the tale where a kid falls asleep chewing some Bubble Yum and wakes up with a mouth full of creepy crawlies or webs, giving a sweet twist on the Spider in The Hairdo/Zit urban legend.
History & Themes
This legend took off like a rocket when it first started in New York in 1977. Much like our previous tainted foods entry on Pop Rocks and Coke, this candy was a massive success. And its popularity caused frequent shortages and schoolyard black markets. But this legend became so pervasive that Bubble Yum’s parent company at the time, Life Savers Co., saw a decline in sales. (The product has since sold and is now under the Hershey’s banner.)
Now who do you think would start such a damaging widespread rumor? Some jealous competitors no doubt! A tall tale becoming so pervasive so fast would have to be the work of some well-funded corporate overlords right?
Nope, it was schoolchildren in New York, because you know what they say; “Nothing spreads like playground gossip.” To be fair this tale contains several pieces of well-worn urban legend fodder. Mixing the much beloved “gross things found in food,” with “new innovative products are dangerous,” topped off with a healthy dose of “bugs are icky.”
Can you really blame the kids for taking such tasty, tasty bait? Because Gen X bought this hook, line, and sinker. One telephone survey gathered that roughly 40 to 50% of the respondents had heard the rumor. Lynn Lehew, a sixth grader in New Jersey, conducted her own poll and found that about 30 of the 90 kids in her class believed the spider egg story.
Unlike Pop Rock, Bubble Yum acted immediately to dispel the rumors, spending $100,000 and taking out full-page ads in fifty newspapers. This campaign was a success with most looking back on this as a funny footnote about their own youthful gullibility.
Pop Culture
Oddly enough this one seemed to stay in the real world with very few direct pop culture references that we could find. The first is a quick reference made in the 1998 film “Urban Legend.”
Then, a year later, in 1999, on “The Simpsons” episode “Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder, ” the kids are watching the Krusty The Clown show when he says, “Kids, today we have to talk about Krusty Brand Chew Goo Gum-Like Substance. We knew it contained spider eggs, but the Hantavirus? That came out of left field!”
Around the same time the spider eggs in Bubble Yum rumor started to crop up, so did another saying it gave you cancer.
Is it Real?
We think you’ve figured it out by now but for the sake of continuity, no, this was never real. Bubble Yum also won’t give you cancer. Take it away Johnny F:
Print Sources Used:
Brunvand, J. H. “Spider Eggs in Bubble Yum.” Too Good to be True: The colossal book of urban legends, W. W. Norton and Company, 2014, pp. 193-194.
Brunvand, J. H. “Spider Eggs in Bubble Yum.” Encyclopedia of Urban Legends, W. W. Norton and Company, 2001, pp. 408-409.
Brunvand, Jan Harold. “Dreadful Contaminations.” The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, W. W. Norton and Company, 2003, pp. 89-90.
Genge, N.E. “So Much For Comfort Food.” Urban Legends: The As-Complete-As-One-Could-Be Guide to Modern Myths , Three Rivers Press, 2000, pp. 324–325.
