I loved this shit; it went so well with Tastykake fudge bars and afternoon cartoons. Growing up, there was a kid across the street whose dad worked for Pepsi and had a garage literally filled with soda, including this shit. So I had a neverending, free supply.
They could've been in cowboys and indians costumes, or Biblical robes, it doesn't matter to the target audience. Why the 80s were so hung up on the 50s is beyond me.
Bubblegum soda's not as great an idea as it first seems. The flavor is great, but if you've been conditioned to not swallow bubblegum, you can find it hard to swallow bubblegum flavored soda. It sounds odd but your brain keeps doing this defensive check and you have to keep switching over to manual. After a while it just seems to be not worth the effort.