Fruit Stripe was an artificially and naturally flavored fruit chewing gum produced by Beech-Nut in 1960 and discontinued in 2024. The individual pieces of gum were striped and were packaged in zebra-striped wrappers, which also acted as temporary tattoos.
The "Five Flavor Gum" was invented by James Parker and first sold in 1960 by the Beech-Nut company.[1]
A new variety was introduced, Fruit Stripe Gummy Candy, in 2022. In January 2024, Ferrero announced that it would cease further production of Fruit Stripe gum.[2]
Two types of five-flavor packs of Fruit Stripe were produced:[3]
A character known as the Fruit Stripe Gum Man was used to promote the product; he was an anthropomorphic gum pack with limbs and a face.[4] The Stripe Family Animals, which included a zebra, tiger, elephant, and mouse, were also used for advertising and featured in a coloring book and plush toys.[5]
However, the zebra later named Yipes outlasted the other characters to become Fruit Stripe's sole mascot.[6] Yipes was shown prominently on Fruit Stripe gum packaging. The advertising slogan "Yipes! Stripes!" has often been used with this character.[7] Wrappers contain temporary tattoos of Yipes inline skating, skateboarding, playing baseball, hang gliding, playing basketball, bicycling, snowboarding, surfing, playing soccer, playing tennis, and eating grass.[8] In 1988, Yipes was made into a promotional bendy figure.
In 1996, Fruit Stripe gave five cents from the sale of each Jumbo Pack and Variety Multipack to the World Wildlife Fund, totaling about $100,000, for the preservation of endangered animals and their habitats.[9]