I always looked for them. We heard you got one free if you had it, but I never knew where to turn it in. Tootsie Roll HQ? Our candy store would have never given it to us for free. They might have called the cops for reading the magazines…but never free candy.
I also heard from the kids in my neighborhood growing up that if you got the Indian shooting a star on the wrapper you could get a free Tootsie Pop, but they never had any details about how to obtain this free candy and none of them had actually gotten one themselves. So I just took it a be a rumor.
I heard the same thing, friend. I did find some in my youth and just didn’t know what to do with them once I found them. I found this on the Wiki though:
“At some point, a rumor began that the lollipop wrappers which bore three unbroken circles were redeemable for free candy or even free items like shirts and other items. The rumor was untrue, but some shops have honored the wrapper offer over the years, allowing people to “win” a free pop.
Some stores redeemed lollipop wrappers with the “Indian star” (bearing an image of a child dressed as a Native American aiming a bow and arrow at a star) for a free sucker. This was clearly up to the store owner and not driven by the lollipop manufacturer. A superstition of the same wrapper is that it gives the bearer good luck for the rest of the day.”
I used to to work for the factory that made the wrappers for Tootsie Roll. There’s a lot of thought that goes into those things that you wouldn’t think of. Burst strength, moisture content, coefficeint of friction. It was a whole thing.
The local store we got our candy at had a rule, if your wrapper had the whole indian on it then you got another sucker free.
I always looked for them. We heard you got one free if you had it, but I never knew where to turn it in. Tootsie Roll HQ? Our candy store would have never given it to us for free. They might have called the cops for reading the magazines…but never free candy.
I also heard from the kids in my neighborhood growing up that if you got the Indian shooting a star on the wrapper you could get a free Tootsie Pop, but they never had any details about how to obtain this free candy and none of them had actually gotten one themselves. So I just took it a be a rumor.
I heard the same thing, friend. I did find some in my youth and just didn’t know what to do with them once I found them. I found this on the Wiki though:
“At some point, a rumor began that the lollipop wrappers which bore three unbroken circles were redeemable for free candy or even free items like shirts and other items. The rumor was untrue, but some shops have honored the wrapper offer over the years, allowing people to “win” a free pop.
Some stores redeemed lollipop wrappers with the “Indian star” (bearing an image of a child dressed as a Native American aiming a bow and arrow at a star) for a free sucker. This was clearly up to the store owner and not driven by the lollipop manufacturer. A superstition of the same wrapper is that it gives the bearer good luck for the rest of the day.”
Odd the things you forget. This was never a huge thing in my town, but I remember one summer being made aware of the Indian Star.
We must have bought dozens of suckers at the store and no one ever picked up a complete one.
I used to to work for the factory that made the wrappers for Tootsie Roll. There’s a lot of thought that goes into those things that you wouldn’t think of. Burst strength, moisture content, coefficeint of friction. It was a whole thing.
I want to work in the Burst Strength Lab — this has something do with Starburst Fruit Chews right?