Anyone over 30 remembers that in the US, there used to be questions about kosher chewing gum in the 70s and 80s. The "Paskez" brand gum was rather lame, and what people used to love getting from Israel was kosher "Bazooka Joe" bubble gum (with enclosed comic).
Of course, those days are long gone in the US, as there are many kosher chewing gums (or so I'm told) and in Israel, there's a plethora of options; MUST, Bazooka, Hubba Bubba, Orbit, and many others with kosher certification.
I admit, I never always understood the Hebrew comics as a kid, nor did I understand why Bazooka Joe's friend always had his sweater pulled up over his nose.
Regardless, Elite (Bazooka Joe's) has started a 2 million NIS campaign to pick a "new" friend for Bazooka Joe (and I doubt it will be called Bazooka Joe Settler).
Stay tuned, as Elite is due to launch their quest for a new Bazooka friend in the very near future. (source in Hebrew, here)
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
I remember trying to figure out the hebrew jokes with my buddies.
ReplyDeleteJacob: At the end of the day, I dont think they were that funny ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm not why Bazooka Joe needs another friend. However, I can think of a great comics character to promote competitor Hubba Bubba...
ReplyDeleteThe MUST gum is actually cheaper in Baltimore than it is here in Israel. Go figure.
ReplyDeletelife is like chewing gum;
ReplyDeletea little bit of flavor and the rest is chew chew chew
-Rabbi Mendel Kaplan
I could never figure out if my Hebrew was that bad, or the writing was so unclear that it was illegible. Turns out it was both...
ReplyDeleteThe shirt pulled up is because BJ has bad breath from chewing poorly flavored gum.
BTW, now that we have Obama as president, maybe Bazooka Joe could go for a more "ethnic" pal.
Also, if any publicity is good publicity, and they really want to increase sales, give him a girlfriend. Think of the free advertising on YWN!
AMSHINOVER: life is like chewing gum;
ReplyDeletea little bit of flavor and the rest is chew chew chew
-Rabbi Mendel Kaplan
That's Rabbi Berel Wein.
How about Shimon Peres? Then his advice in that cartoon could read:
ReplyDeleteאני לא רואה כלום בעין ימין
אולי תסגור העין השני - זה איך שאני נוהג...
Lurker: I think Amshi knows if its a quote from R' Wein or not...right Amshi?
ReplyDeleteJameel: Lurker: I think Amshi knows if its a quote from R' Wein or not...right Amshi?
ReplyDeleteAnd what am I, chopped liver? Hey, I learned in R. Wein's yeshiva, and I heard him make that statement more times than I could count.
Jameel -- if you're skeptical, take a look at the yearbook, page 12, upper left, 11th quote down.
Nu, whaddaya say now?
Just last week The Onion explained why Bazooka Joe's buddy wears his sweater so high.
ReplyDeletei remember being a kid and there weren't any gum options here except for that paskez crap. i really looked forward to my grandparents lived in israel for the summer months and i always looked forward to their return because it meant getting box of bazooka (i don't remember any kashrut problems?).
ReplyDeleteHaving read the explanation on the Onion link given above by mnuez, I realize that here in Israel with our war and terror victims there is much that could be done with the same themes. However, in this day and age I don't think that Elite will be heading in that direction.
ReplyDeletelurker
ReplyDeletei spent years with RBW in fact i have smicha from him
life is like chewing gum;
a little bit of flavor and the rest is chew chew chew,belings to
Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, who was RBW's rebbe (RBW quoted the line b'shem RMK all the time)