While Nike has felt the need to reframe its iconic tagline in its introspective 'Why Do it? campaign, other brands have found no need to mess with a classic, even reusing adverts from the past. Tootsie Roll has launched a remastered version of its classic How Many Licks? animated Tootsie Pop advert from 1970, and people are loving the nostalgia.
Arriving in time for peak candy season at Halloween, the new Tootsie Pop ad follows the exact same storyline as the original, with a child asking Mr. Owl how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, only for the owl to scoff the whole thing after just three licks. Over five decades later, will we ever know the answer?
Rather than remake the advert, Chicago-based animation studio Calabash remastered the animation, drawing over the original to make the line art sharper and the colours more vibrant. As many people have commented, the boy is also now more obviously clothed. The creatives also appear to have used voice replacement technology, presumably because the original audio was so damaged.
Craig Miller, chief creative officer at SCC, which oversaw the project, said in the press release the challenge was to keep the quirky charm of the original ad. “Many of us grew up with Mr. Owl and looked forward to seeing this commercial every year,” he said. “Being entrusted with such a beloved piece of culture, we wanted to respect its heritage while modernizing it for the next generations."
You can see how Calabash approached remastering the animation in the making of video below.
The original How Many Licks? ad became a major cultural reference in the US. It ran in various forms over decades, leading to several parodies over the years. And people still today ask how many licks it takes to get to the centre of a Tootsie pop (one Reddit user claims the answer is 1,280).
Bringing the original ad back after a dalliance with 3D animation in the 1990s (see below) makes sense considering how big a driving force nostalgia has become in branding in 2025, particularly in food branding.
Mr Owl remains a fun and charismatic character, and while the aim might seem mainly to appeal to the nostalgia for those who remember the original advert, the advert is also winning over a younger audience with a naive retro charm that elicits the idea of simpler times.
“This was probably the best decision on marketing any company has made this year,” one person comments on the video on YouTube.
The ad will air on TV in the US up until Halloween. Considering the upset it caused when the old-timer Cracker Barrel logo was briefly ditched recently, perhaps all brands should revive their branding and advertising from the 1970s instead of trying to modernise?
