Mike and Ike "Jolly Joes"

Just Born

I’m not really used to Mike and Ikes only offering one flavour in a package. Most of the time Mike and Ikes come in packages featuring at least two flavours, and sometimes as many as 5, but not with these. The only flavour you get in this package is grape, purple grape, plain and simple. I'll tell you right off the bat that I did enjoy these Jolly Joes, but I do have two questions/problems with this treat.

The first problem I have is the name, what exactly is "Joe" so jolly about? I'm guessing that this is some kind of marketing idea to give each flavour a different character representation, and that's fine, but if you do this, make sure to put a picture of the character on the package. If you don't do that it's just confusing and strange. I think as humans we feel it’s important to attach a face to a name, and when you don’t provide it we start imagining faces instead. The face in my mind was not a pleasant one, and kind of creeped me out.

My second problem with this treat is with the words "Real Fruit Juice" on the package. I read the ingredient list, and it does contain real fruit juice, it has "pear, orange, strawberry, cherry, lime, and lemon" juice, but no grape juice. That seems a little odd, why would you talk about the real fruit juice you use in a grape candy, then use a whole bunch of other fruit juices instead of grape in the candy.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy these, and while I can't say they're my favourite Mike and Ike flavour, I can tell you that they're pretty good. The flavour isn't a realistic grape flavour, I think I might know why, but it's a nice fake grape flavour much like a grape Popsicle.