The Death of Little Mikey (Amya Nickerson)

Amya Nickerson

Ms. Jessica Armendarez

ENGL 212

10/11/23

## The Death of Little Mikey: Wiki Entry

### The Summary:

Evidence showed that the first instance this legend was recorded was on the Internet in 1994. This version of the legend states “A kid ate 6 bags of pop rocks at a party. He then proceeded to drink a 6-pack of Pepsi. The two substances combined in his stomach and exploded, killing him horribly. That's why pop rocks were taken off the market in the early eighties” (Snopes). I found that this was the origin, and the adaptation became the death of little Mikey that we know today. “*Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends”* by Jan Harold Brunvand is the first adaptation of this legend where little Mikey from the Life cereal commercials was working long hours and in an effort to stay awake he drank a lot of pop soda later on one day he started to snack on some pop rocks candy and by the time they got inside his belly the two came together and exploded inside of him killing him. This book was published in 1999 however this legend was formed in 1979 (“TGTBT-087: AWH-07: The Death of Little Mikey”).

### The History:

I have reason to believe that the legend first emerged around 1975. The candy pop rocks made by General Foods at the time hit the shelves in 1976 for public consumption. The Life cereal commercial first aired in 1971. Rumors about the candy started before they were released for public consumption in 1974 rumors began to spread that the candies eaten along with soda would cause an explosion and a child's stomach. General Foods was battling "exploded kid" rumors as early as 1979, a scant four years after the product's introduction. With all these rumors circulating for roughly five years, the company decided to take direct action in 1979 to debunk all the rumors. General Foods ran four-page ads in many American newspapers they eventually took the candy off the shelves in the early 80’s. Despite all these measures, rumors abound about kids exploding after eating the pop rocks candy and drinking soda or pop are still around even to this day.

### The Adaptations:

I was only able to find two adaptations of the legend. In one instance “In July 2001, a northern California couple announced they were suing Baskin-Robbins after their five-year-old daughter swallowed Pop Rocks contained in the ice cream chain's "Shrek Swirl" flavor, maintaining that their daughter "woke up from her nap screaming in pain" and was taken to a medical facility where "doctors had to insert a tube into her stomach to remove the air." (Snopes).” I was not able to find out if this version the legend had any truth to it, the only thing that these two versions of the legend share is the fact that pop rocks a candy that was meant to bring joy to the children were thought to be the cause of a child's suffering. Another version of the exploding kid legend was revived in 2006 when rumors told of a Brazilian child who died after ingesting a combination of Mentos and Coca-Cola specifically instead of the pop rocks and pop soda. I can say with full confidence that this version was complete fiction.

### The Analysis:

The second adaptation that I mentioned changed out the Pop Rocks candy for the Mentos candy. I believe this was done because by this time the pop rocks rumor was completely debunked however many were experimenting with mentos and Coca-Cola. Anyone who got to 5th-grade science class most likely saw what happens when you drop Mentos inside of a two-liter Coke bottle. When the mentos is trapped inside of the coke it disturbs the surface tension and causes a fizzy explosion. Seeing what it does outside whenever the two are mixed most likely started a rumor about what would happen if you put both of them inside a human body at the same time. One more thing that I wanted to mention is that there are two different versions of the death of Little Mikey legend. In one legend Mikey ate the pop rocks candy and drank the soda and a party was hosted by Life Cereal. In the other version of the legend, Mikey drank a lot of soda to stay awake during the shoots of the commercials and ate the pop rocks candy also to stay awake. For the first version of the legend, I believe the point was to get people to realize that when kids are left unattended at social gatherings, they tend to eat things they shouldn't. However, in the second version of the legend, I believe the point was to make a commentary again child actors working long hours for commercials and TV shows.

### Works Cited

Snopes. “Did Pop Rocks and Soda Kill ‘Little Mikey’?” *Snopes.com*, Snopes, 31 July 2000, www.snopes.com/fact-check/pop-rocks-soda/.

“TGTBT-087: AWH-07: The Death of Little Mikey.” *Www.youtube.com*, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOBxIniaCCw. Accessed 8 Oct. 2023.

“The Death of Little Mikey.” *Prezi.com*, prezi.com/oecdll4rbn26/the-death-of-little-mikey/?frame=d3311e5d22695d556481d16cbee57e5cd5470f44. Accessed 10 Oct. 2023.

“Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends.” *Goodreads*, www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/296504. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.

“What Is the Death of Little Mikey?” *Answers*, www.answers.com/music-and-radio/What\_is\_the\_Death\_of\_little\_mikey. Accessed 8 Oct. 2023.