The '70s Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Flavor Boomers Probably Remember For Its Bright Pink Color

These days, it seems there are specialty ice cream shops and chains in every town. But back in the 1970s, Baskin-Robbins was the go-to for its inventive selection of creamy treats. Though best known for carrying 31 flavors, people might not realize that Baskin-Robbins has actually served up about 1,400 different ice cream varieties across its eight-decade history. These include a fan and childhood favorite among Boomers and older Gen-Xers — pink bubblegum. Today, its vibrant color and flecks of real gum elicit emotional, nostalgic responses from those born during the boomer (1946 to 1964) and Gen-X (1965-1980) years.

First released in 1970, pink bubblegum is a bright pink vanilla ice cream with bubblegum flavoring and chunks of actual bubblegum mixed in; a 1970 newspaper article shared on the Facebook Group Vintage Recipes noted it was only available at Baskin-Robbins (as far as the columnist knew, anyway). For kids growing up in the 1970s and '80s, the ice-cream-and-bubble-gum pairing just worked. "I was 5-years-old," recalled one Redditor on the subreddit r/nostalgia. "We all walked to Baskin-Robbins just for THIS new flavor. It was 1970. I remember it as if it were yesterday!"

As with many of the kitchen ingredients boomers used to love, the product hasn't gone away completely — it's just become much harder to find. When a Redditor asked on r/Baskinrobbins why their local shop won't stock the flavor, they received a broad range of answers as to its actual availability or scarcity. As it happens, however, pink bubblegum is available year-round at a B-R location near me, in Issaquah, Washington.

Perhaps one reason pink bubblegum ice cream ticks the nostalgia boxes is because many boomers can't easily secure a scoop in 2026. "I'd eat it now, if I could find some," said one user on Facebook. Many respondents seem to feel it's no longer available, or re-released occasionally in limited rotation. In reality, there are likely a combination of reasons for its scarcity. Every Baskin-Robbins is franchisee-owned, meaning individual store owners can make their own decisions to carry the flavor. 

One person on Reddit, who claims to own a store, said they stopped carrying it because customers would spit the gum onto the patio outside. Fans of the ice cream similarly remember their parents thinking it was too messy. There are also many more grown-up ice cream options these days drawing attention at chains like Salt & Straw or Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. Even Baskin-Robbins carries flavors like Pumpkin Cheesecake and non-dairy options, like Cookies 'n Crème, that seem more likely to appeal to boomers and older Gen-Xers.

Then there's the ice cream itself. I hustled down to my local B-R to try my first-ever scoop of bubblegum. It's indeed bright pink, and mostly tastes like vanilla with ..."pink" flavoring. It turns out bubblegum is not an actual flavor, but a collection of chemical aromas. The frozen bits of gum seem smaller than in images of the ice cream on the Baskin-Robbins website, or how nostalgic adults describe the treat. This made them nearly impossible to extricate and save for later, which several boomers recalled doing. I ended up crunching them up and swallowing them — the aftertaste was not pleasant. Perhaps some childhood treats are best left as wonderful memories.