Tootsie Roll's Classic "How Many Licks" Ad Reimagined by Calabash and Agency SCC

Oct. 01, 2025

Few commercials have etched themselves into popular culture quite like the 1969 Tootsie Roll “How Many Licks” spot, featuring the ever-curious boy, the wise  Mr. Owl, and its now-iconic conclusion, “the world may never know.” Now, more than five decades later, Chicago-based animation studio Calabash and agency SCC have refreshed the spot for 2025, reintroducing it with modern craft while carefully preserving its original spirit. The new TV spot just broke and is airing on streaming (CTV), YouTube, and various social media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.

Sean Henry, Executive Producer at Calabash said:

“The original 'How Many Licks' commercial is probably the most famous animated ad of all time. For anyone who grew up in the ’70s or ’80s, it’s pure nostalgia. So when SCC invited us to help refresh the spot for a new generation, we jumped at the chance. For those of us who spent our childhoods glued to Saturday morning cartoons, it felt like coming full circle. We treated the project with the same reverence an art restorer would bring to a classic painting — honoring every detail of the original — but with the advantage of today’s tools to bring a new level of clarity and vibrancy.”

 

Technical Challenges Confront Animators:

For Calabash, the process felt less like a straightforward remake and more like a painstaking restoration. The studio initially hoped to re-transfer the original 35mm film, but discovered no archival master was available. The only surviving material was a highly compressed, low-resolution digital copy circulating online — plagued by interlacing, blurry lines, and washed-out colors.

Complicating matters further, the original was animated in standard-definition NTSC, while the new spot needed to be delivered in widescreen 4K. That required extending backgrounds and recreating elements where no artwork had ever existed.

Calabash tested state-of-the-art AI upscaling tools, but quickly found them unsuitable. While they could sharpen lines, the technology stripped away the hand-drawn personality that gave the original animation its life. 

Henry said:

“It always looked like a digital filter. The only way forward was meticulous, frame-by-frame re-draw, executed by our animators to match the quirks, eccentricities, and imperfections that made the spot so beloved.”

 

Guided by the SCC creative and the brand’s marketing teams, Calabash also made subtle, intentional updates. They refined line work to better define the boy’s clothing, refreshed the background art to feel less cluttered for modern eyes, and updated the product packaging to reflect Tootsie Pop’s current branding. The goal was balance: introducing clarity and polish for contemporary audiences, while retaining the whimsical looseness of the original animation. 

Audio was provided by Chicago music/audio post house Noisefloor Sound Solutions, who recast and recorded the classic voice-overs with near-perfect fidelity.

Hand-Drawn Charm vs. AI:

While there’s a novelty in seeing what AI can ‘come up with,’ explains Wayne Brejcha, Creative Director at Calabash, there is very little personal connection to those results. 

Brejcha said:

“When you look at something that was truly hand-drawn, that came out of someone’s imagination and soul, it’s more like looking at a painting in a gallery in which you have a sense of the decisions, or a unique way of looking at things, or the fun or the ingenuity or possibly even the suffering that somebody put into their artwork. I think it’s something like that recognition that makes hand-drawn stuff compelling and attractive, and why this ad still works.”

 

The result is a refreshed Mr. Owl and a revitalized “How Many Licks” campaign that feels both timeless and timely — a hand-crafted reminder of why traditional animation, when done with care, still connects in ways digital shortcuts cannot.