Dots Entertainment

I’m as susceptible to impluse buys as the next consumer. And wouldn’t you know at the check-out counter at Bed, Bath & Beyond yesterday there was a nice display, and sale, of large boxes of my favorite movie candy. That would be those horrible gumdrops called DOTS. They are practically flavorless but truly addictive and I always succumb to their allure when I go to the movies. I remember them from my misspent youth (they came out in 1945) and always think of them as Mason Dots even though the folks at Tootsie bought out the brand in 1972. They are not even referred to as Tootsie Dots; just DOTS, but the flavors and comforting chewiness remains.

When I say “flavors” I mean they only have a hint of the fruit they are supposed to represent and the box is blatant in its “Fruit-FLAVORED” appellation. I remember watching an episode of Siskel & Ebert many moons ago wherein Ebert challenged Siskel (or vice versa) to a blind taste test of the seven varieties (there are only five now) and Siskel (or Ebert) scored 100%. Very impressive and obviously a Dot connoisseur. I just now tried fishing out a dot from the box and popped it in my mouth without checking its color. I guessed cherry but it was an orange. Well, damn. So I just had to eat 12 more (one serving--140 calories) of various artificial flavors, stuffing my mouth like a wanton woman.

Ingredients listed on the box: corn syrup, sugar, modified food starch, malic acid, artificial flavors, sodium citrate, artificial colors (including FD&C Red 40, Yellow 5 and Blue 1). Tootsie, and Mason before them, have a lot to answer for.

Sidenote: In 1911, the Mason company put out a licorice gumdrop named Black Crows. Since I was never much of a fan of licorice I never got hooked on their consumption but I do know the urban legend that the printer misheard when instructed to label the wrapper Black “Rose.” It’s a good story I guess but even though this was in, like, 1890 it seems likely the instructions were followed (maybe they wrote it down wrong); especially when a crow, not a rose, was depicted on the packaging. Of course, that could have come later but, hey, it makes for a good story and a PR opportunity.