Welcome back to another fun edition of CollectingCandy.com’s Wacky Wednesdays! Today we’ll be taking a look at a Wacky Packages sticker from 1974’s Series 10 – Badzooka!
During the original 1970’s run of Wacky Packages, Topps would occasionally get into a situation where a manufacturer would take issue with the Wacky Packages parody of their product. In a few cases that resulted in Cease & Desist letters and a removal of the sticker from the set. Topps always maintained that the parodies were in good fun and would not damage the standing of the originals. In order to drive that message home, Topps would always include at least one of their own products within each original series.
In 1974’s Series 10, Topps included a parody of their own thick roll Bazooka bubble gum pack, parodied in the form of Tuffs Badzooka. Here’s a close-up of the sticker:
Topps Wacky Packages Series 10 – 1974 – Badzooka
The parody includes a Wacky character taking aim at the bubble gum roll with a chisel. This hammers home the overall message of the parody that the gum is tough and hard to chew.
I’m fortunate to have a matching wrapper for this Bazooka product in my collection and here it is:
Topps – Bazooka Bubble Gum – roll wrapper – 1976
As you can see the key design elements of the real wrapper are all utilized in the parody – the Topps name becomes Tuffs, “big chews” becomes “stiff chews” and “full color comics” become “dumb color comics” in the parody. Great Wacky stuff.
This style of 1970’s Bazooka wrapper had been exceedingly difficult to track down, so I was thrilled when I was able to add this one to my collection earlier this year. It’s a beauty, and it’s only that much cooler as the match to a great classic Wacky Packages sticker.
And that’s everything for today’s edition of Wacky Wednesdays. See you next time!
Haven’t seen this one before but I remember the Wacky Packages “Gadzooka” one.