It may rot your teeth and stick to your shoe soles, but to capture the freedom of childhood, there's nothing else like a mouth full of bubble gum.

Alas, the folks who've sold 30 billion pieces of Bazooka bubble gum — looking out only for the welfare of children, of course — grew concerned that many of today's kids were missing out on the joy of peeling bubbles off their noses.

(ENLARGE)

Bazooka Joe's new gang — Mort (from left), Casey, Wolfgang, Cindy, DJ, Kevin and Jake — will join him in comic antics in the updated version of the brand.

(ENLARGE)

Bazooka Joe, at 53, has been recast as a 21st-century kind of guy.

Bazooka still had great brand awareness, according to the Bubble Gum Incidence Study of 2004. (No kidding.) And in-depth psychological tests of tastes and smells showed that Bazooka was among the most identifiable items.

But experts in the study of bubble gum concluded that today's youth prefer softer chews than the hard little pink squares of Bazooka and that Bazooka Joe was an out-of-date nerd at 53. So the Bazooka folks softened their gum. And they swooped in on poor Joe like the team from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

Out with his rolled-up pants. In with a backward hat, wilder hair and ripped jeans.

Out with most of his old friends. In with a new multicultural gang that will appear with Joe in Bazooka comics: Added to old friend Mort are tomboy Casey McGavin, German exchange student Wolfgang Spreckels, greenie Cindy Lewis, sci-fi fan Kevin Griffin and DJ Chen, who loves mixing records and, of course, chewing bubble gum.

This great revelation took place this summer at the National Confectioners Association All Candy Expo in Chicago.

Now the question remains — will the new image pop with the kids?