Goody Goody Gum Drops

Goody Goody Gum Drops was invented in 1983 by general director of Tip Top, Murray Taylor.[3] According to Taylor, having a good distribution of gum drops in the ice cream is difficult, and "Very few ice-cream makers in the world would have attempted it".[1]

In 2008 Tip Top created an ice cream on a stick variant of the flavour, as a limited edition.[4] At the time it was described as a technical triumph. According to Taylor, it took two years for the stick version to be created, due to distribution of the gum drops being a problem. At first they all came out as a big lump, and Danish consultants created a mathematical model of the normal distribution of the gum drops, saying that the goal could not be achieved.[3] To mark the launch of the product, an television advertising campaign starting from 16 November saw 'Goody' and 'Stick' fall in love at a supermarket checkout. Their romance included a candle-lit dinner, ice cream at the beach, and an "encounter for Stick with a low-hanging branch on a bike ride through the countryside".[5] The stick ice cream came back to stores in 2019, this time larger in size, 100ml compared to the original 78ml. Tip Top's Facebook post announcing the return gathered 1,600 comments in a day.[6][4] In 2019 Primo, a flavoured milk producer, created a Goody Goody Gum Drops flavoured milk.[7]

In November 2008 it was reported that for the year, consumers had consumed 50 million gum drops in the ice cream.[5] In 2016 TipTop collaborated with Griffin's to create a Goody Goody Gum Drop flavour of the Griffin's Squiggles biscuit.[8] In December 2017 Goody Goody Gum Drops "started to disappear" from stores and later returned.[9]

In October 2022 Tip Top announced the discontinuation of Goody Goody Gum Drops—along with Cookies and Cream—in the forms of two-litre tubs and sticks,[1] but remained available by the scoop.[10] Tip Top said that the reason for the discontinuation was so that it could maximise its ability to keep up with summer customer demand,[11][1] and 1 News reported that it was due to rising manufacturing costs.[10] After the announcement, people across the country were outraged and many people wrote about their disappointment on social media.[1][10] New Zealand's immigration minister, Michael Wood, said in response that "Sometimes the tough calls are the right calls".[1]

In October 2023 the Goody Goody Gum Drop flavour returned, joining the 1.2 litre Tip Top Crave product range. This time the gum drops shrank in size to solve customer complaints about there not being enough gum drops in a tub. Tip Top director Ben Schurr said that the previous version of the flavour had 5–6 gum drops per scoop, and that the new version has 9–10 gum drops per scoop. He also said that the smaller size makes the gum drops stick to people's teeth less. To mark the reintroduction, Hilary Barry and Jeremy Wells visited the Tip Top factory on the television programme Seven Sharp.[10]

Market research carried out by Tip Top in 2008 showed that Goody Goody Gum Drops was considered by many as a 'treat' whereas flavours such as Hokey Pokey or vanilla were seen as every-day flavours.[12] For decades the flavour has had a polarised love/hate reaction from consumers, with immigration minister Michael Wood tweeting in 2022 that he considered Goody Goody Gum Drops to be a "blight on western civilisation".[3]

Vaughan Currie, co-owner of ice creamery Rush Munro's described the Goody Goody Gum Drops as one of the only flavours that can compete with the iconic status of Hokey pokey. Currie believes that the reason for Goody Goody Gum Drops success is its appeal to children, describing that ice cream can "arguably be a little bit bland" and said that it is not uncommon for families to have an 'adult' flavour, and one that caters more for children. Currie has also described the flavour as catering to children's imaginations.[3]