(image from The Sneeze)
Steve over at The Sneeze has an interesting post about Tootsie Pop Wrappers. I totally forgot about those characters on the wrapper and I never heard about getting the Indian on your wrapper and exchanging it for free candy. Maybe that was before my time? Anyone ever hear of that before?
- The Sneeze
- Pop Art at The Sneeze
Wow, I do remember that story. When I was in elementary school (10-15 years ago) and the teacher would hand out Tootsie Pops some kids would go crazy looking for the Indian and the star, saying that you could get three pops for each wrapper. I never believed them though…it sounded stupid. :P And I don’t think anyone actually tested the theory.
RESPONSE: I wonder if that legend was regional or something…I lived a bunch of places as a kid and never heard it.
–Brian
Im 35 and its true , if u found and indian u could take the wrapper and get a free one.
RESPONSE: Did you actually do it? If so, how did you do it? Did you mail it in? Did you take it back to the store? Just curious.
-Brian
As a kid we used to save the Indian wrappers – we were always told they were good luck. I’ve never heard you could exchange them for a free one.
I used to collect the Indian wrappers. But I could never get a free one.
My kids are collecting the indians and stars now. They’ve been told you can collect them to send it for something free. Is there any truth to this?
I don’t think it’s true but I did successfully do it once. I took my indian wrapper into the gas station where I got the sucker and told the attendant that it meant that I got a free sucker. He was really skeptical but allowed me to take one anyway. I think in the end, he probably paid for that sucker.
So… is there any truth in it? Sure… if you can get the clerk to believe you long enough to get your hands on the loot.
RESPONSE: That’s funny. I wonder if you could get away with that today? :)
–Brian
It is true. Everyone I have found on the internet says its just a myth and they refer to the response letter sent out by Tootsie Pop. The free sucker had nothing to do with the Tootsie Pop company though. Back in the good ol days kids could take these wrappers into local retailers and get a free sucker (key words: kids, local retailers.) I don’t know what has happened over the years though, but nobody seems to do it anymore, its like everyone in the world these days are getting meaner or greedier.
I am 33 and when I was little you could turn in the wrappers with the Indian for a free sucker. Me and my sister would walk down the road to the little store at the end of our street and turn them in. I am native american and it was a nice little old lady who owned the store and I am not sure if she just thought we were cute or felt sorry for us or something, but she would give us a free one every time. Nowadays I think you could never get away with that though.
I found out through tootsie pop that if you have the indian with the star you can send it in to tootsie pop to qualify for a thousand dollar drawing. You have to have the whole indian and star. If it is cut off in any way then it will not qualify.
i always thougght that the indian was for good luck like my brother had told me but now i know that it is from the sneeze. even though i have no clue what the sneeze is. im doing a project on the tootsie roll pop and i could use all the information as possible.
I alwaysed thought that was true but where do turn them in?
Hate to dissappoint y’all, but according to Snopes.com this rumor is false, but has been around since the 30′s. However, the site does admit that “Some individual store managers took it upon themselves to redeem Indian-bearing wrappers for free Tootsie Pops, but the exchange was not sanctioned by the Tootsie Roll company itself.”
Here’s the link: http://www.snopes.com/business/redeem/tootsie.asp
I remember mailing in a wrapper when I was younger – at least 15 years ago and I received a letter from Tootsie about the Indian. No free sucker.
I heard about it in 1981 in a little town on the coast of Oregon. Some kids claimed that the local 7-11 would give you a free one. I did not believe them, and I never tried it. Of course, I also didn’t believe that I could get a nickel for a can until I was much older and learned about the 5 cent deposit when you bought a can of soda.
I emailed the tootsie roll company and got the response from them that the company never sponsored any such thing. I too was told the story when I was a kid. The company did say that some stores did it on thier own but they never sponsored it.
I believed this was true until today when I decided to check since I actully got the indian. Too bad -it was always something fun to look for!
I am 19 and I grew up in a little town in CA. Everyone I knew thought this myth was true when I was growing up! The other day my 6 yr old nephew was excited because he found the indian and the star and he was going to get a free candy! I don’t know how this myth came about, but it really lasted a loooooong time!
I am 19 and I grew up in a little town in CA. Everyone I knew thought this myth was true when I was growing up! The other day my 6 yr old nephew was excited because he found the indian and the star and he was going to get a free candy! I don’t know how this myth came about, but it really lasted a loooooong time!
About 1/3 of the wrappers you find will have the indian and star. The local candy store where i grew up on cape cod had a deal where 12 indian wrappers got you a free bag of Pops. Not a bad deal; it worked out close to a buy two bags get one bag free.
I used to collect wrappers as a kid. I remember getting a free tootsie pop from a Circle K for the indian on a wrapper. I’m 30.
I used to turn in the wrappers with the indian shooting the bow for free tootsie pops when I was young. Maybe it was a myth, but the clerks at the corner store by my house didn’t know that and neither did we. We certainly didn’t put them out of business claiming our prizes–it took us weeks to collect or earn the money for even a couple of pops, and longer to get to the store!
You all are a bunch of “suckers”!
I always look for the indian shooting a star on my Toostie wrappers but grew up with the story that they were good luck. I also was said that you had to finish the whole pop for the luck to come true other wise it wouldn’t work. I never heard of getting anything free for them until now. I think I still have indian wrappers in a draw of mine from several years ago. And to this day I still look for and save the indian shooting a star wrappers.
It’s amazing how this rumor is still going around. I am 60.
60? Daaamn.
My niecies and nephew were going thru their Halloween candy. My 4 year old niece said her favorites were the suckers her 10 year old brother asked her for the wrapper. As if he wanted it for something special I asked what for and of course the myth of the indian and the star was the reason. He resonded with he could get a free ice cream I said from WHERE Not that they needed any more sweets but then the myth appeared I said Guys I’m fifty and that was alive when I was a kid too. Crazy huh!
Tootsie Roll Pops traditionally were wrapped in paper with icons and symbols, including but not limited to, an American Indian with a bow and arrow. From soon after the introduction of Tootsie Pops from 1931 through the present day (currently generating about 150 letters a week), a rumor has circulated that a wrapper containing the American Indian icon shooting a star could be traded-in for a free Tootsie Roll Pop.
According to Tootsie Roll Industries and web site Snopes.com, this rumor is not true. However, according to Snopes.com, individual merchants have chosen to honor the wrapper legend over the years, allowing people to “win” a free bag.
With the innovation and spread of the Internet and e-mail, many queries to Tootsie Roll Industries are in the form of email. Below is the company’s response, dated March 24, 2005, to one such query:
the following Email is from the Tootsie Pop Company website (snopes.com) In response to the “lucky indian” on the Tootsie Pop wrapper.
Thank you for your interest in our Tootsie Pop wrappers. We are pleased to have an opportunity to tell the true story about our Tootsie Pop wrappers.
Many years ago, a rumor surfaced that said if the wrapper of a Tootsie Pop with a star was found and returned to the company, a free Tootsie Pop, or any number of things would be sent to the lucky person. We truly don’t know why or where this rumor started, as our records do not indicate that our company ever sponsored any type of promotion surrounding images on the wrapper.
We hope we have been able to clarify this matter for you and we thank you for contacting us.
ftthhllbbbbt.
We used to frequent an all you can eat buffet restaurant called Roy’s Chuck Wagon in Pasco, Wa and they used to honor the free Tootsie Roll Pop if you had a full, complete Indian and Star on your wrapper – no halfs, partials, or anything of the kind – it had to be the whole thing. But they went out of business years ago… probably because they gave too many suckers away.
P.S. I got one on the last one I unwrapped… this morning.
I got 5 wrappers with complete Indians and stars on them in the last bag of pops I bought.
I heard the rumor differently. I heard that one had to have three (3) wrappers with the indian and star on it. No partials. I think I may have tried it once but got declined. I am not sure. I would try it today but the attendent would probably have me arrested for trying to steal a tootsie pop…as if I have any reason to. I am not that poor.
In the early 90′s my cousin, I’m pretty sure said that if you collected five wrappers with the indian star you can get a free one tootsie roll pop. I never did it and now I wish I had asked her how she knew that?I thought it was a great idea, so maybe thats why I didn’t question its origin. Maybe there is a lost story to this, or perhaps just an interesting myth people keep activethrough kids. Makes you wonder why any idea may become fixed into ones thoughts when they don’t even know what it is? or why they follow it, hah! God bless you!
Well, I always was under the impression that if you collect enough with the Indian star guy one would get a free tv or a pair of kickin panties. But I myself have never tested this- I have researched to see where to send them, and there once was a place; but I never actually sent them in. They are in an envelope somewhere rotting away. At any rate, as of now I believe it to be a myth :(
What an awful place this world is..just because I didn’t get massive prizes for turning in some candy pop wrapers
have a good one
I AM 32 YEARS OLD AND WHEN I WAS A LITTLE KID IF YOUR WRAPPER HAD THE FULL PICTURE OF THE INDIAN SHOOTING THE STAR YOU, THERE WAS A MOM AND POP STORE THAT WOULD REDEEM THE WRAPPER FOR A FREE TOOTSIE POP, THERE WAS ALSO A 7-11 THAT WOULD DO THE SAME THING. OH YEAH AND TO CHARLIE BRAVOS POST? I ALMOST FOR GOT ABOUT ROY\’S CHUCK WAGON DOING THAT!!! WONDER IF THAT PLACE IS STILL THERE??
RESPONSE: Dude – no need to yell. All caps = yelling.
–Brian
Yes, As a child I grew up in the midwest. (Iowa) and we would take our wrappers back to the store if it had an Indian shooting the star and we would get a free lollipop. I tell my children about it today and they wish the same offer was still going on. Maybe the Tootsie Roll Company will start it up again if enough people ask.
When i was younger we had this gas station called the Minute Man. If we got the Indian with the shooting star on our sucker wrappers then we would get a free sucker.
I totally remember this my bro told me bout it and he actually sent one in and he got candy but I have recently heard that the co. doesn’t do that any more but hay if u find one I guess its worth a try :-D
I was surprised when I heard that finding the indian on the wrapper = free Tootsie Pop was just an urband legand. When I was a kid in the 70′s my brother and me traded in many, many wrappers with the indian on it for a free tootsie pop at local minimarts, etc… We were only questioned 1 time by a merchant in the many years we did this and were never refused. haha.
how do you get prizes where do you turn them in
I am originally from Minneapolis, MN. Myself and two other sisters have personally tested and proved this theory on many occasions at a local Tom Thumb in our neighborhood. If you found a wrapper with an Indian shooting to a star you could go back to the employee of this store and receive a new sucker for free. We as kids did this often, and were bias as to what we spent our money on knowing we could get a free sucker. The chances were I’d say 50%.
We loved it, and the store employees all knew about it, and that was the end of it.
Sad as an adult to hear it wasn’t originated by Tootsie Roll. My husband never heard of it, and I’ve been trying to research more about it.
Thanks for your imput.
yes ive heard that story many times when i was in elmentry school.i am now in the 8th grade and still hear the story today!!! when i was littler around “2002″.At a near by can recycling place they would give u a tootsie pop and if you had a indian on the wraper you may turn it in and get another one but lately this has not been used for a long time…what is the real story now days for the tootsie pop indian story who knows.-madison
According to the tootsie roll company, they were never involved with getting a free tootsie roll sucker for turning in a wrapper with a star on it. It is something that your local grocer would do if they chose to but would not be refunded. In my childhood every store I knew of would do it, tested it myself. I did this in 5 different states. Around the early 90′s the last store I knew of to honor this had discontinued that policy. It’s one of those myth/fact things. Success was higher back then. I havent heard of a successful retrieval of a sucker in more than a decade.
i heard of this but i heard they stopped it so when i heard they stopped it i just stuff the wrappers with the indian on it in my pocket for good luck :)
i swear it really does bring good luck
i just looked it up as i am eating one now and found the indian shooting a star. tootsie roll pops released a statement that can be found on http://www.snopes.com that it never was a promotion. However, many independant merchants thought it was charming and decided to honor it independantly.
I remember the local grocery store in my hometown would give a free tootsie roll pop if you brought in a wrapper with the star on it. I grew up in a small suburb of Kansas City, MO. I don’t think this was anything sanctioned by Tootsie Roll, I think it was just local retailers providing good customer rapport. Heck, they only cost 5 cents, and a free sucker could make a kid’s day. Small price to pay for a loyal customer. I bet you couldn’t walk into a chain store today and get the same treatment.
I think I have heard of it
Someone should perform a study or maybe Tom Green or Jamie Kennedy could test out the free tootsie pop strategy on local gas stations as well as major grocery stores.
I used to work at the local mini grocer in Alpine Utah.
It may never have been sponsored by the company, but when I was a kid in the 80s every store our parents took us to would honor our wrappers. I just asked some people at work if they ever heard of the free sucker for a wrapper and they said I was making it up!!!
In Greenleaf Idaho there is only one store, the Greenleaf Store, and they always honored the legend. We would often dig through the stores stash of suckers looking for ones that had Indian and Stars on them and buy that one. We would then take another sucker to the register with us and get two for the price of one because we had one with the Indian and Star on it. Usually the Indian and Star was hidden in the twist though so you had to buy the sucker before you could find out if you were going to get a free one out of it. Either way if you had an Indian and Star you got a free sucker it was a one for one deal.
My wife and I were just watching our son eating a tootsie pop and started talking about the Indian and Star and wondering if it was still honored. Apparently the clerk at the Greenleaf Store was just a nice man and paid for the free tootsie pops we redeemed from his own wallet.
If I ever become a cashier at a grocery store I’ll honor the free pops to keep the legend alive.
my friend told me if you brought it to a seven eleven you get something i don’t believe her but i’ll try it out anyway.