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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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Posted by Matt on 04/26/2006. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 101 comments

Jeez, thanks Matt. I was so very bored, this came at just the right time. Chocolate Tylenol? Never. I still celebrate that day many moons ago where I discovered the pill, and I’ll never return to liquid medicine–especially if it tastes like gritty chocolate.

Chestnuts roasted by Katherine @ 04/26/2006 9:34 PM

wow… who would of thought.. chocolate medicine?

i wish i had that when i was a kid..

Chestnuts roasted by ANDREW @ 04/26/2006 9:37 PM

Holy…fuck…I myself hate the so called "cherry" flavored Tylenol. It doesn’t taste like cherries to me, it tastes like, hate. :(

Chestnuts roasted by Darth Poop @ 04/26/2006 9:37 PM

Maybe not candy, but it does come across as kind of "toy-like." Like a mad-scientist-lab-gross-food-makin’ kind of a thing who’s name I can’t think of…

It does seem sort of questionable to me, though.

Chestnuts roasted by SteveA @ 04/26/2006 9:38 PM

Great, now all we need is some lithium batteries and we’ll have ourselves some chocolate flavored meth!

Chestnuts roasted by Mystie @ 04/26/2006 9:43 PM

I always liked Dimetapp, but back when my brother and I were kids we would only drink our Robitussin if it was mixed into a glass of Coke.

Chestnuts roasted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 04/26/2006 9:56 PM

Woo, lucky number Sleven, er, I mean 7.

I was always a Dimatapp person myself, the grape tasted waaay better than the cherry Tylenol.

Either way, ew. Like Coke BlaK ew.

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 04/26/2006 10:04 PM

The hell? Who…why…this is too much. How weird!

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 04/26/2006 10:09 PM

Nice… Just watch the dumb kids overdosing on this without adult supervision…

Chestnuts roasted by Mofongo @ 04/26/2006 10:13 PM

I think this is awful…but I guess kids would like it better than ‘real’ medicine. I hate ultra fake flavors in medicine, myself. Pills all the way! I am an expert pill swallower.

Matt- Is your Pac-Man tattoo in the original yellow color, or is it black? Did it turn out well- are you happy with it? I fear getting a Thundercats tattoo and they fuck up the logo somehow, and it won’t look ‘just right’…

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 04/26/2006 10:20 PM

Since it’s already pre-flavored with that abysmal artificial cherry flavor anyway, I can’t see it tasting good no matter what unstirred dust is thrown on top of it. I’ll just stick to orange juice and chicken soup, thanks.

Chestnuts roasted by Chaomancer Omega @ 04/26/2006 10:22 PM

I too, am an EXCELLENT pill swallower! Even the really bad tasting ones go down lickety split! I agree that this would prob. make kids more likely to overdose on Tylenol. At the very least, cause severe liver damage. Medicine isn’t suppossed to taste "good" that’s why they don’t market it as "candy". It’s not candy. It’s medicine.

You should be thankful enough that someone invented the drug to cure you, and not be worrying about how the shit tastes.

If I didn’t take my bad tasting medicine, I’d be dead.

On the other hand…could you take a Lik ‘em Aid stick and eat the powder with that? Or could you just down it like a Pixie Stix?

Mystie don’t forget the Dran-O!

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 04/26/2006 10:28 PM

I never had this issue as a kid because my mom was into homeopathy. I still don’t use these drugstore medicines because it means extra work for me, going to the drug store while sick and all rather than just using the stuff I have at home.

She’d just stick this powdered stuff that I’ve forgotten the name of into a spoonful of apple sauce and be done with it. Worst case scenario was getting stomach problems and having to swallow some bitters in hot water.

And for a sore throat, a spoon full of honey covered in black pepper. Seriously, it works. Don’t leave it in your mouth, just swallow straight down, so you only taste honey, and it makes you feel much better. Now THAT’S medicine as candy, it’s pretty yummylicious.

Chestnuts roasted by Mara @ 04/26/2006 10:43 PM

This is how addictions start.

In other news – I thought I’d pass along that the first season of "Are You Afraid of The Dark?" was just released on DVD:

http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5548

Chestnuts roasted by Eric @ 04/26/2006 10:44 PM

Oh, this also kind of reminds me of the flavored polish they’d give you at the dentist after they cleaned everything up. I hated that stuff, most of it tasted like a mix of chalk and household cleaners.

Chestnuts roasted by Mara @ 04/26/2006 10:44 PM

Apparently, the candy/medicine thing seems to work better when it’s not officially meant for eating. Case in point: fruity chapstick and sparkly-blue bubblegum toothpaste. Yum!

Chestnuts roasted by venison @ 04/26/2006 10:48 PM

Flavored chapsticks. I remember thinking my cousins were freaks when I was little because I’d go over to their house, and they’d be sitting around eating chapstick like candy. Not even any exotic flavors like I remember getting one year for x-mas (mint chocolate chip & peanut butter!), just the ordinary wax flavored stuff. Then again, before I knew any better, I’d open up a pack of Ramen noodles, and eat the the compressed noodle block raw.

Chestnuts roasted by Rob @ 04/26/2006 10:59 PM

I have a couple of problems with this:

1) I always liked the taste of Children’s Tylenol, though from reading the previous posts, it’s obvious not everyone did.

2) Doesn’t matter if it tastes like candy. If it *looks* enough like candy, little kids will try to eat it. Especially when, as I’ve illustrated, some kids actually do like the taste of Tylenol. The package by itself looks pretty damn enticing. And don’t get me started on gummy vitamins.

3) As kidneyboy said, it’s medicine, and it’s there to make you well, not to taste good. My god, are kids now so spoiled that they can’t even deal with medicine tasting bad? Have parents become so lax that they’ll just say "Okay honey, since your medicine tastes yucky and you don’t want it you don’t have to take it. We’ll just wait for that fever of 102 to go away on its own!"?

4) If they’re gonna do this to kid’s medicine, they may as well do it to foul medicines adults have to take. Milk of Magnesia is the nastiest thing on the planet.

Chestnuts roasted by jazzy @ 04/26/2006 11:15 PM

Though it has the potential for misuse from bored teenagers thinking they’ll get an awesome-o buzz from liquid Tylenol, I’m more just aware that some people will be ticked about the Flavor Creator than one with the protest. It’s not that hard to keep medicine out of kids’ reach, so long as you don’t take their curiousity/stupidity/ignorance/whatever for granted.

More likely to be misused is the unpictured-but-mentioned golden vanilla stuff, because it’s Tylenol PM (much more attractive for stupid purposes) and because those in the correct age bracket to consider over-the-counter medicine as a night on the town will feel more comfortable buying that than the obviously-meant-for-little-kiddies Flavor Creator.

So, no beef with Tylenol here — I don’t think they should be forced to make medicine taste like ass to keep people from misusing it. That said, it’s kind of a shitty product anyway. If you ever try it, you’ll see. The liquid medicine itself is nearly like maple syrup in consistency. Add a handful of chalk dust, and it’s really messy and not at all something you can just "down" with any degree of excellence.

I do appreciate it for being the most interesting product I spotted this week, though.

If not for this sentence, my reply would’ve started and ended with "though."

Actually, I guess it still did.

Well, it almost did.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 04/26/2006 11:24 PM

Rob, there’s nothing wrong with eating raw blocks of Ramen noodles. I’m in college now and I still do it. Of course, it does taste better if you sprinkle the seasoning packet over the raw noodles :P

As for the Tylenol, anything (well, almost anything) would be better than that artificial cherry taste. I try to avoid cherry-flavored medicines because I hate that taste, but I’ll take ‘em if I have to. This might make that a little better, though.

Chestnuts roasted by snowpsycho @ 04/26/2006 11:59 PM

If anyone would know, it’s the residents of this blog (or maybe Matt himself) : I heard over the radio that there is a website that specializes in selling discontinued food. Not that I plan to buy any, I just want to know where it is….a Google search provides nothing.

Chestnuts roasted by Mars @ 04/27/2006 12:26 PM

Could be talking about http://www.hometownfavorites.com">Hometown Favorites, an awesome site, but their food isn’t so much discontinued as it is hard to find in many areas.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 04/27/2006 12:27 PM

Wow, this is messed up…

But it reminds me of a cool story… I had perscription cough medicine when I was a kid, and used to just take sips directly out of the bottle.

Except one time, when I had my tonsils out, I was given some pain medication in the exact same type of bottle.

Guess what happens when my Dad got a cold and went reaching for the cough medicine? Yep, he took the pain med. instead. It made him really drowsy and sleepy all the time, and this went on for a few days. It was pretty bad because he would just take swigs from the bottle, which was WAY more the recommended dose.

And anyway, it was pretty cool..

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron T. @ 04/27/2006 1:01 AM

I’ve never had liquid Tylenol. I just place the pill in my mouth and take a swig of a good drink like the pill’s not even there. Nothing to it.

Mara: I hate that polish crap too. I find mint to be the most tolerable flavor though.
Because:
1. It’s pretty hard to screw up ‘mint’.
2. It makes your mouth feel clean (like it should).
3. Thanks to years of toothpaste, mouth wash, and gum, I’m used to keeping mint-flavored things in my mouth without ever swallowing them.

Chestnuts roasted by RewolfJ @ 04/27/2006 1:15 AM

Hmmmm, so even taking into consideration the fact that tylenol has been used as a form of euthanizing people and offing oneself for years, we package it with generic crystal light and hope for the best? Fuck that. Our medicine tasted like Hot Sick. We were afraid to get sick because mom would grab that ruddy old plastic measure thingy and pour us a shot of liquid yuck.

Chestnuts roasted by americandeadguy @ 04/27/2006 1:45 AM

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 26th, 2006 at 9:24 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.