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04/26/2006: The Tylenol Flavor Creator Kit!

There’s a not-so-new buzzword attacking the world of consumer products: “Customizability.” It’s the latest trend and the latest push, and outside of having Burger King’s meat YOUR WAY, there’s never been a more clear cut example of customizability infiltrating the world of we-the-consumers as Tylenol’s new “Flavor Creator” kit — medicine that you make yourself!

Well, sort of.

The boxed set includes a standard bottle of cherry-flavored liquid Tylenol, but to boost its appeal and make the thought of sipping gross medicine a little more palatable to kids, Tylenol also includes a bag full of tiny packets filled with powdered “crystals” representing four different flavors: Strawberry, green apple, bubble gum and chocolate. Yes, chocolate.

After pouring the regular dose of liquid Tylenol, you’re free to pick your desired flavor, rip the packet open and dump the generous portions of chalky, colored powder into the tiny plastic cup. As the instructions advise against stirring, the point is to mask whatever unpleasantness comes with medicine by covering your mouth in vaguely candy-flavored dust.

To a degree, it works. I gave the chocolate dirt a whirl, and though I’m not sure I tasted much in the way of chocolate, I didn’t taste much in the way of Tylenol, either. Of course, the powders are messy and you’ll probably need to wash off your lips afterwards, but for many, that’s a small price to pay to avoid tasting “pure” Tylenol.

Personally, as the liquid medicine is already made to taste like a bowl full of cherries, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. It’s interesting to whip up a cherry/chocolate syrup sundae when you need to banish a fever, but beyond the gimmick, there’s not much necessity in this. Then again, a lot kids would be much more agreeable to taking medicine when they needed to if they got to act like mad lab doctors and make their “potions” first. I’m 27, and it worked for me.

Medicine is medicine, and there may be a few people who aren’t crazy about turning it, even subversively, into “candy.” To those who’d cry foul, I offer you this: Even if you dump each of the twenty included flavor packets into a single dose of Tylenol, it won’t taste like candy. I wouldn’t know what to call it, but that stuff isn’t candy.

While Tylenol’s Flavor Creator kit is obviously kid-skewed, adults who’ve grown sick of the “usual” medicine taste will be happy to learn of another of Tylenol’s recent exploits: Liquid fever medicine with golden vanilla flavoring. If this keeps up, we won’t need ice cream anymore.

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Discussion Thread: 101 comments

Yes, I loved "ear medicine"! Even if I could never spell it, I knew it tasted delicious. I remember fondly the liquid and chewable versions.
I still don’t really get the outrage over this…I like the point about movie theaters though ;) . That’s why I try to wait until the late night shows if I’m seeing something.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 04/27/2006 2:26 PM EDT


This site never fails to make me smile!

Ghosted by Wolfy @ 04/27/2006 2:53 PM EDT


Speaking of candy and medicine…Here’s something I try…don’t know if anyone else does (but feel free to steal the idea ;) ) anyhow, when I have a sore throat or something, and I have to take liquid medicine, I find popsicles or fudgesicles help. What ya do, is right after you take the med, pop a popsicle or fudgesicle in ur mouth, take a bite off it, and let it sit in ur mouth for a minute. I find that it "absorbs" most of the leftover flavour in your mouth, and then leaves you with a tasty treat :D

Ghosted by Jabo @ 04/27/2006 2:57 PM EDT


Ahh, amoxocillin. I haven’t had that in years. Now THAT’S a medicine that tastes like candy.

Ghosted by Rosella @ 04/27/2006 3:53 PM EDT


Next time you find yourself in a theater full of noisy kids, here’s an idea: pass around some NyQuil shooters.

Capital "N,"
Little "y,"
Great big frakkin’ "Q!"

Ghosted by kingklash @ 04/27/2006 4:21 PM EDT


bitchpants: You DO have a point. I’m sure parents probably did have an unfounded fit over cherry Tylenol, and Flintstones vitamins and whatnot. Progress does tend to freak people out a little.

I guess seeing this product kinda stirs up the "in my day we had to walk 15 miles to school in the snow and take medicine that tasted like noxious chemicals" sort of feelings in me.

But I guess if adults have chocolate laxatives and orange-flavored toothpaste the kids may as well have a mad scientist Tylenol flavoring kit.

I still have a problem with gummi vitamins though. It was one thing to make Flintstones vitamins taste like candy, but gummi vitamins are *indistinguishable from actual candy* to a child who can’t read yet.

Ghosted by jazzy @ 04/27/2006 4:39 PM EDT


The medicine still doesn’t taste good–I can’t imagine that there’d be a child that would think that liquid nasty would be good enough to overdose on. It’s not like it’s flavored tramadol or anything, jeez!

Ghosted by Sunday @ 04/27/2006 5:16 PM EDT


Okay.
this is way, way, way, off topic, but does anyone here remember the show You Can’t Do That On Television? It was on early nickelodeon and I loved it. Just wanted to see if anyone else knew what the hell I was talking about.

Ghosted by theniXer @ 04/27/2006 5:42 PM EDT


yeah i remember that show….. but as for the tylenol…. i fucking LOVED baby asprin!!!!!!i would steal them for christ sakes!!! i wouldnt dream of sucking back any "Flavored" tylenol slime….*vomit*

Ghosted by xzev @ 04/27/2006 6:00 PM EDT


orange Triaminic 4 lyfe

Ghosted by Emily @ 04/27/2006 6:17 PM EDT


Making meds more kid-friendly seems to be the rage lately, especially with vitamins. Anyone seen the various commercials for Gummi Vitamins? Not to mention the Vitaball.

As for chocolate medicine, I have HORRIFIC memories of those chewy chocolate laxatives. But even they were more tolerable than the chalky Milk of Magnesia. Blech.

Ghosted by JLAJRC @ 04/27/2006 7:07 PM EDT


Liquid Penicillian was THE MOST HORRIBLE thing on the planet! I still cringe and want to vomit every time I think about it. Gawd… :X

Ghosted by Ryane @ 04/27/2006 7:38 PM EDT


Don’t know if you’re still taking advice for your trip to the Mousetrix, but I can’t sing the praises of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World book loud enough. Absolutely jam-packed with information. The INTERcot and Laughing Place websites are excellent too.

Ghosted by LaGremlin @ 04/27/2006 8:15 PM EDT


Man, when I was a kid, I considered the Flintstones vitamins to BE candy- we LOVED them, and would always want more and more. I didn’t know they had gummi vitamins now…

craziness.

Ghosted by Muppet Baby @ 04/27/2006 9:37 PM EDT


Yeah, they do have gummi vitamins; I’ve seen them at the Audubon Acme.

I’m not overly fond of taking any kind of drugs unless it’s really necessary (like to get rid of monumental sinus headaches). All this looks like to me is a cute but pointless way of getting kids to take already-flavored medicine.

Ghosted by starwenn @ 04/27/2006 9:47 PM EDT


PLEASE GOD let robitussin come up with a product like this. I drink bottles and bottles of the stuff for kicks and let me tell you id sure love a change from menthol cherry flavor. it gets to you after a while.

Ghosted by dc @ 04/27/2006 11:52 PM EDT


Don’t crush aspirin in jelly! My mom did this, and as a result neither my brother nor I can eat grape jelly. No PB&J sandwiches for me.

If you have a sore throat, gargling with white vinegar is the best. It hurts so good.

Ghosted by Welsh Rabbit @ 04/28/2006 12:05 PM EDT


Personally, I’m a major fan of Nutrition Now’s Rhino Dippin’ Pops. I have the Echinacea & Vit C kind. I’m 23 years old and a former health food store manager. Honestly, I’ve never seen a parent purchase a box of these pop-rocks meets cherry lollypop supplement, but they were definitely popular with the 20-something staff of the store. They totally taste like candy. Way better than Flintstone vitamins.

Ghosted by Jackie @ 04/28/2006 2:45 AM EDT


I think my personal favorite medicine was a cherry flavored cough losenge (spelling?) that tasted so much like a Jolly Rancher I had trouble believing as a kid the thing was doing my throat any good. I keep wanting to say it was called Mike and Ike’s but that is a candy, right? Anyone know what I’m talking about?

Jabo, your fudcicles comment gets me thinking about something my dad tried to do with my sister and I. I don’t know what other kids had to suffer the weird remedies sis and I suffered under him. He had us drink Hydrogen Peroxide from time to time. Later I found out from a high school chemistry teacher how dangerous that was. But one thing my dad made us do was drink metamucil, that tree-bark like crap that’s supposed to make you crap. Of course kids won’t drink the damn stuff, so dad found our fudgecicles, melted them down, mixed them with metamucil and figured all would be okay.

To this day, I still have a love/hate relationship with fudgecicles. Not to mention a hate/hate relationship to metamucil.

Ghosted by inkmage @ 04/28/2006 3:14 AM EDT


Still love my daddy though.

Ghosted by inkmage @ 04/28/2006 3:16 AM EDT


Inkmage, I think you’re referring to something I remember too. I can’t remember the full title but it was something "Bros" as in brothers. In fact a little Googling says it was "Smith Bros." throat drops.

Candylicious ;)

Ghosted by Soj @ 04/28/2006 4:00 AM EDT


Welsh Rabbit: I agree with the grape jelly thing. My mom mixed in some disgusting, sprinkle-like asthma medicine into Cool Whip, and to this day I taste that shit in whipped cream. I’m mentally sick because of that.

Ghosted by mtrox @ 04/28/2006 6:23 AM EDT


My aunt was an Irish Catholic who married into our German Catholic clan. Which effectively means that, while we’re all drunks, she’s the only one who will give a child a hot vodka seven as a sore throat remedy. Good times.

Ghosted by Jedoc @ 04/28/2006 7:07 AM EDT


Wow your parents did all that for you guys? Man! All I ever got was a glass of water right after just to wash it down and help with the after taste.

Ghosted by PRSense @ 04/28/2006 8:31 AM EDT


I recall, in high school, people drinking an entire bottle of robotussin, and I know I spelled that wrong. They would call it "roboing". I never remember it looking like fun. There was always lots of puking involved.
welsh rabbit and mtrox-
I was a jelly/tylenol fed kid till I was about 10, and I have no thing against jelly now. I think the trick is to swallow the glob without chewing. That way you don’t taste the two together. If there’s enough jelly, it all just slides down…

Ghosted by kb @ 04/28/2006 8:32 AM EDT


my personal fave was luden’s cough drops. they served no medicinal purpose whatsoever. they were so useless that they were banned from my elementary school because they were nothing more than candy. so tasty though.

theniXer – i loved you can’t do that on television. i just bought a YCDTOT t-shirt at hot topic. I don’t know how anyone can not love the show that gave alanis morisette her start!

Ghosted by bitchpants @ 04/28/2006 10:38 AM EDT


I think most of you are looking at this from the perspective of kids who grew up with Cherry Tylenol and didn’t mind it. When I read this, I think of my little sister, the most non-medicine taking person ever. My sister used to get bladder infections quite frequently and they were always putting her on amoxicillin ("it tastes just like bubblegum" they always said.) I vividly remember my mother trying to force it into her mouth and my sister screaming and crying like someone was trying to stab her or something. If she ever managed to get it into her mouth, my sister would either spit it out immediately, or just hold it in her mouth crying (with my mom screaming, "just swallow it and it will be over!!!") until she couldn’t hold it anymore and it would all come out. It usually ended with my mom in hysterics, crying and telling my sister how she was going to end up in the hospital if she didn’t take her medicine and my sister screaming, "I wish you were dead!" My sister pretty much refused any kind of medicine (if it wasn’t life threatening or serious, they wouldn’t let it escalate to that kind of drama) and to this day (she’s almost 24) she won’t take medicine. She can’t swallow pills. At least if it’s something prescribed she’s old enough to realize she has to take it and she’ll stick it in something to hide the taste (she still has to ask for liquid medicine though.)

So, in my eyes, if your kid is OK with Cherry Tylenol, you probably won’t spend the extra dough. I see this more for someone like my mom who is desperate for anything that might help her child take the medicine he/she needs. I mean, would you rather have your feverish child spit medicine on you and not end up ingesting any, or sticking a little overpriced powder in it so they may be more inclined to take it?

On a side note, I used to sneak Tums as a kid. My mother was horrified when she found out. And, inkmage, could those cough drops have been Luden’s? They’re my favorite (though I don’t feel like they work. My theory is, the worst it tastes, the more medicine is in there and the more effective it is. That doesn’t apply to Alka-Seltzer Cold, though. That stuff works great and I don’t have to choke it down.)

Ghosted by Lori @ 04/28/2006 10:43 AM EDT


D’oh! Beaten to the Luden’s shout out.

Ghosted by Lori @ 04/28/2006 10:44 AM EDT


I’ve always wanted an excuse to go around licking telephone poles and door handels for germs — now I have one!

Ghosted by Review the World @ 04/28/2006 10:56 AM EDT


Wow. This thread mad me sick, and cured me all at once!

Ghosted by kingklash @ 04/28/2006 11:31 AM EDT


Children’s Tylenol "Flavor Creator" kit doesn’t have Dex in it…

Ghosted by rockasoo @ 04/28/2006 11:47 AM EDT


My sister bought the Flavor Creator kit for her kids. They said the medicine was still pretty gross, but they said I can taste it next time I’m sick if I want.

Slightly OT, does anyone remember Celestial Seasonings cough drops? I LOVED those things!! Not very good at soothing sore throats, but they were the best tasting cough drops ever.

Ghosted by Kieran Alexis @ 04/28/2006 1:56 PM EDT


Oh ho ho, Kieran, my brother and I might disagree with that.

Ghosted by Pine Brother #1 @ 04/28/2006 1:57 PM EDT


This is of interest to absolutely no one, but I have to share my pain…Last night, for the price of $20 and a tank of gas, I could have seen Frank McCourt speak in Beverly Hills (tied with Garcia Marquez for greatest living writer in my worthless but passionate opinion) if I had known about it before this frigging morning, 24 frigging hours too late. Frig.
To connect to the topic, I’d like to point out that anyone that needs support for their "kids today are a batch of spoiled pansy wusses" stance should read Angela’s Ashes for more ammo…now those were some tough kids.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 04/28/2006 2:12 PM EDT


So Matt, what do ye think of Wii? Think Nintendo screwed up again?

Also, I just read today how the Cube was 3rd in the Console War because it looks like a kid’s lunchbox? What? It looks like a box, but a lunchbox? I guess when you wanna make fun of something you gotta be really creative…

Ghosted by Roddy @ 04/28/2006 3:41 PM EDT


According to one article about the Wii, they actually released the name before E3 "to give everyone a chance to vent".

So apparently they knew it was gonna piss everybody off before they even announced it. Which begs the question… why not use a different name?

Ghosted by jazzy @ 04/28/2006 3:49 PM EDT


Squee-

I was totally thinking about Angela’s Ashes as I was reading about all the horrible children in this thread. Jesus. I think there should be some sort of exchange, where all the really, really bad kids are sent to say, a 3rd world country and just left there for a few days without their cushy life and where no amount of tantrum throwing will get you a candy. But I’d feel bad for all the mothers in 3rd world countries having to put up with it.

Ghosted by Mara @ 04/28/2006 4:21 PM EDT


Wii?
*sound of kingklash falling over, trying very hard not to quote Harvey Korman from "History of the World"*
!
?
!!!
yes, a lot of it!
Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

Ghosted by kingklash hiding out during the French Revolution @ 04/28/2006 4:28 PM EDT


Apparently, the "ii" means "good in Japanese, and the phonetic in English is supposed to represent the unity of gamers the device will accomplish. The "ii" also represents the controllers and the players.

But all that doesn’t mean squat for us Brazilians, for example. hehehe

Ghosted by Roddy @ 04/28/2006 10:12 PM EDT


I still say that Pepto Bismol is the tastiest medicine on the planet. In fact, I refuse to believe it’s real medicine. Whenever I get heartburn or feel like I’ve got the squirts, I take a swig of that stuff and instantly feel better. I think it’s a placebo effect; tasting something so delicious and being told it’ll keep you from crapping your pants can be a very powerful message.

I’m also convinced that pink peppermints are based on the taste of Pepto Bismol, and not the other way around. There’s no way you could make a medicine taste that much like a candy, unless you were trying for Mexican candy, which is as simple as throwing hay and chili powder onto a wet cracker.

Of course, now there’s cherry Pepto Bismol… which makes me angry. Pepto Bismol doesn’t need a cherry flavoured variety. It’s already the tastiest shit you can buy from a pharmacy short of Oxycotton. Why would you buy it when the origional is so perfect? That’s like buying Pepsi Blue, White Chocolate Reese PB cups, or all those chocolate bars that are adding caramel to already existing chocolate bars for no good reason, or orange-flavoured Kitkats. If I want my chocolate to taste like oranges, I’ll eat a chocolate orange. If I want my chocolate with caramel, I’ll get a Caramilk or Rolo. If I want some tasty medicine that has the added bonus of keeping the skidmarks to a minimum, I’ll reach for origional Pepto Bismol.

Basically, my point is… stop and look at all the varieties of existing products. Stop and look. Other than the gimmick of being new, is there anything really redeaming about them that makes you want to have them? What’s wrong with just getting a regular coke? Why do I need Vanilla, Lime, Coffee, and 0 Carb varieties?

Ghosted by Ronald MacKinnon @ 04/29/2006 12:31 PM EDT


Oh, and two things;

One; it is so nice to learn that I was not the only kid who would consume vast quantities of that sparkily bubblegum toothpaste. I swear, I would buy that now as a cracker spread or something. Screw yoghurt tubes, get me a tube of that Sparklez or whatever it was called.

Two; I was a kid who almost OD’d on children’s Tylenol. I lived, obviously. However, the reason for me taking so much was not the taste, though it did make it easier. No, the reason I ended up taking a whole bottle of Children’s Tylenol was child’s logic. To me medicine was magical stuff. Having been told to take two spoonfuls, I did so. Then I figured if I took four, I’d get better in half the time. And eight would make it a quarter of the time. And the logic went until the bottle was empty. I was actually rather proud of myself, and showed it to my folks.

Which is when I got scooped up and rushed to the hospital, where they made me puke into a big stainless steel bowl that looks exactly like the one we have in our house that we use for serving Halloween candy. Maybe because my mother was a nurse she was able to order one… or maybe they gave it to her after I broke it in. All I know is that I was seriously pissed at the doctors for making me puke.

As a kid I couldn’t swallow pills, so I had a lot of liquid medicine. But I do remember at least one incident where a capsule was just split in half and the powder was poured into a glass of orange pop for me. It went from orange flavoured to chalk flavoured in 0.2 seconds.

Ghosted by Ronald MacKinnon @ 04/29/2006 1:00 AM EDT


Until I came to this page, I thought this blog was the only area in the entire Net where there were no "Wii" jokes.

Ghosted by Mars @ 04/29/2006 3:43 AM EDT


That’s just disturbing.
Kids are gonna mess themselves up.

Ghosted by Ryan @ 04/29/2006 11:43 AM EDT


this is really cute, and it makes me want to cry.

Ghosted by Johnny the Mild Mannered Soda Jerk @ 04/29/2006 2:18 PM EDT


I always hated cherry medicine. I’ll take grap or orange over cherry any day. On a further note, I’ve always love grape-flavored anything. Espeially that Purplesaurus Rex.

Ghosted by Nate @ 04/29/2006 5:45 PM EDT


when my siblings and i were young and ill my darling mother knew just what to do…it consisted of a dose of the liquid medicine or chewable pills and an immediate swig of seven up or sprite, worked wonders and i never had a problem taking any kind of medicine.

i love love loved amoxocillin it was so yummilicious.

i dont see anything wrong with this "flavor creator" my sisters 2 boys are SO anti medicine and i am 100% sure the 4 y/o would take his if he got to play mad scientist with it.

and idiot parents that leave medicine where it can be found and od’d on by children should be rounded up and shot.

thank you for relieving me from my bordom for a while.

Ghosted by CherriLifeSaver7 @ 04/29/2006 8:17 PM EDT


Cherri-

These days, I just follow it up with a swig of beer. Seems to do the trick.

Ghosted by Nate @ 04/30/2006 3:28 AM EDT


That doesn’t look particular tasty.

Ghosted by Hart704 @ 04/30/2006 1:56 PM EDT


by the way Wii means Us……

Ghosted by xzev @ 05/01/2006 4:24 PM EDT


That doesn’t mean that it’s a better name.

Ghosted by Hart704 @ 05/05/2006 8:11 PM EDT


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