OtterPopCorunucopia

Prompted by the thought that Otters are one of my favorite animals (second only to mongooses, of course), nostalgia set in the other day, dredging up fond memories of Otter Pops, that frozen treat of my childhood.

The Old School Version of Otter Pops

Our freezer was generally well-stocked with these icy sticks of saccharine goodness thanks to the Price Club (the precursor to Costco)boxes containing 100 of these babies, which were still unfrozen liquid when you purchased them, to be frozen in quantities of your choosing. I recall days of anger at my dad who would occasionally forget to put more in the freezer, or put them in too late for them to be fully frozen upon the next Otter-rific craving. In an act of childishly impatient defiance, I would occasionally consume a half-frozen Otter Pop, or even, dare I say it, one that was completely unfrozen. I just gulped it down. And the aftermath would inevitably be a throat coated with a taste eerily similar to cough syrup.

Icy Sticks of Saccharine Goodness.

For a real hoot, check out the official Otter Pop website, complete with Otter Pop Star songs and video downloads. You can also buy Otter Pop t-shirts. And Otter Pop cycling jerseys. And someone modeling their vintage dress collection with Otter Pops.

In retrospect, I also realized that one of the Otter Pop flavors, embodied by fruitified characters, represents a very racist stereotype--Poncho Punch:



With all the furor around Latino immigrants in recent years, I am surprised more people have not been up in arms about this, given recent political corrections around Americana iconography and representations of marginalized populations. Though some have supposedly caught on. But apparently, according to this website, as far as Otter Pops are concerned it could've been worse.

Of course, some people have also found a reason to for Otter Pops to fight each other.

Who knew people cared so much about Otter Pops?