(Written by two people by the names of Barbara and David Mikkelson)
Pop Rocks were invented by a research scientist by the name of William A. Mitchell. The candy was presented to the public in 1975 and enchanted young children with it’s “fizzleâ€Â. Each small nugget contained carbon which would release whenever a Pop Rock would be placed in the mouth. It resulted to an “exploding†and yet “sizzling†experience.
p>Legend says, combining Pop Rocks with carbonated drinks such as soda, would make the stomach explode from too much carbon dioxide. Truthfully, Pop Rocks have the same amount of carbon as half a can of soda. Combining the two would result to nothing other than a belch. Although the candy was thoroughly tested, few people of Seattle were still quite alarmed. A hotline was made by The Food and Drug Administration which was to guarantee that Pop Rocks wouldn’t cause their children to choke.
Catwin C.:
Rumors say, Little Mikey of LIFE Cereal died by eating six packets of Pop Rocks followed by drinking a can of Pepsi. That rumor was proven wrong. The reason why he was the victim was because Mikey was known to many children by his famed commercials. If anything was to happen to him, it would certainly be passed around. The man who played as Mikey, John Gilchrist is still alive and kicking. He now works at New York radio station as an advertising manager.
General Foods was fought back the “exploded kid†rumors on 1979 by making full page ads on 45 publications, sending 50,000 letters to schools all over America, and sent the inventor of the crazed confection to travel around, explaining how Pop Rocks have about the same amount of carbon as a half a can of soda.
At around 1983, the company stopped selling Pop Rocks which was thought to be “proof†that the candy was harmful. What they didn’t know was that Kraft bought the product from General Foods two years later and then sold it as “Action Candy†from a company known as Carbonated Candy. Pop Rocks are sold now under their original name, Pop Rocks Incorporation.
