25 Classic Commercials Boomers and Gen-Xers Remember

This commercial has a boy asking various animals how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop before asking Mr. Owl. The bespectacled bird licks it three times, bites it off, and says, “Three.” Since then, that has remained an unanswered question. There have been several attempts to solve this question, but no one has gotten an exact number down.

There have been several versions of this ad, but the original is still the most popular. In fact, the commercial still airs today. Usually, it only shows the owl scene, but the entire ad is over a minute long. Tootsie Roll’s YouTube channel uploaded the full version if you want to take a look.