The Tale Of The Free Tootsie Pop

I was recently reminded of the tale of the free Tootsie Pop by my son, as I was watching in amusement as he carefully picked out a sucker at the grocery store as if he was a detective. The moment I saw his eyes light up in total excitement and delight as he opened his sucker I knew what he was doing.

This is something I did as a little girl, but some how till then it had slipped my mind. He was looking for the "winning Tootsie pop." Before I could say a word he shouts " I found the Indian and Star on my wrapper. I Won, I Won!!"

Turns out he heard a friend tell the long lived tale of the "Free Tootsie Pop", a story that has lasted more then a few years. The tale suggest that if you find a tootsie pop wrapper with a Boy Dressed in a Indian Chief costume shooting at a star you would win a free Tootsie pop.

No one knows who started it or even when it was started. As far back as I can remember as a child I always remember carefully inspecting all the suckers in the bag of Tootsie pops my mom would get for us kids in hopes to find the "winning wrapper". I do not even remember who told me of the story, just that it seemed to be common knowledge and that everyone else always looked for one too.

The only odd thing is that while I did find many Tootsie Pop wrappers with the boy in the Indian costumer shooting at the star, I never remember returning one to the store. So either my Mom knew it was just a legend like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny or I just preferred to keep the wrapper.

The Sad Truth

Snoop.com reports: The Tootsie Roll company denies ever having a promotion similar to the story and does not honer such requests. If a child writes to Tootsie Pop Industries requesting their free Tootsie pop they get a letter stating similar facts along with a cute story about how the Tootsie pop was created.

Because of the confusion, some small grocery stores will give children a new Tootsie pop if they find the "winning wrapper" but they are not repaid by the Tootsie Roll Company for the cost of the Tootsie pop.

While no one knows how the tale of the free tootsie pop was started there are reported telling of similar tales of tootsie pops as far back as 1930. So chances are that many have heard of the story no matter where they live.

I found my tootsie Roll Purse that is just like the one below at a small boutique while traveling. I just love to have it on hand when I need to carry something around it is a great conversation starter and is just fun to bring with me.