# What Does "Gum Wall" Mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484 "2023-07-24T18:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/1 "2023-07-24T18:29:25Z")
I saw a pop-up ad for Jack-in-the-Box this morning while playing an online word puzzle (_Quordle_, if that helps). As some of JitB’s breakfast offerings flashed on the screen, a rubric was displayed, reading “_Chew on our Breakfasts, Not on the Gum Wall_” WTF? What the hell is a Gum Wall? (Mods, feel free to move if this is more about ad copy than facts.) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/2 "2023-07-24T18:40:04Z")
I’d assume it means the wall where kids would stick their chewed gum. Though as a slogan it doesn’t make much sense. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/3 "2023-07-24T18:42:42Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > What the hell is a Gum Wall? I take it to mean a wall that everyone sticks their used chewing gum to. There was an underpass on campus when I was in college that was like that, a whole wall completely covered with used gum. …And ninja’ed. And I agree that the slogan makes no sense. Why would anyone chew on the gum wall? That’s gross! ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/4 "2023-07-24T18:49:02Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Why would anyone chew on the gum wall? That’s gross! So an easy choice and you will now eat at Jack in the Box, right? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/5 "2023-07-24T19:05:38Z")
One of the more disgusting tourist attractions in my town is [Bubble Gum Alley.](https://californiathroughmylens.com/bubblegum-alley-gum-wall-san-luis-obispo/) There is a similar “attraction” in Seattle. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/6 "2023-07-24T19:08:44Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > > [@WildaBeast](#): > > > > Why would anyone chew on the gum wall? That’s gross! > > So an easy choice and you wilI now eat at Jack in the Box, right? Nope. Tried that, and all their sandwiches had no fillings. Those folks are just WAAAAYY too fond of the excluded middle. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/7 "2023-07-24T19:30:11Z")
The special that wrapped up The Big Bang Theory had a reference to that, although I don’t remember if anyone said “gum wall.” It’s titled “Unraveling the Mystery: A Big Bang Farewell” and features Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco, who show the sets and give us some insight on the filming of the series. When they show us the elevator, one of them mentions that, if the actors were chewing gum, they’d stick it on a wall or something somewhere down the stairs before they’d shoot their scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/8 "2023-07-24T23:03:20Z")
It’s a wall. Covered with gum. > **[Gum Wall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gum_Wall)** > > The Gum Wall is a brick wall covered in used chewing gum under Pike Place Market in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located on Post Alley near Pike Street, south of the market's main entrance off 1st Avenue. Parts of the gum coating alongside the walls are several inches thick, and the coating is 15 feet (4.6 m) high along a 50-foot-long (15 m) section. The Market Theater Gum Wall has become a tourist attraction and local landmark since it was unintentionally created in the ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/9 "2023-07-24T23:37:02Z")
I was going to say, “Who doesn’t know what the Gum Wall is?” Then I realized, duh, not everyone lives in the Seattle area. 🤦‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/10 "2023-07-24T23:45:23Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Why would anyone chew on the gum wall? That’s gross! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ytxsT1D_46U/maxresdefault.jpg "ELF - Eating gum of subway railing!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytxsT1D_46U) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/11 "2023-07-25T00:19:20Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I was going to say, “Who doesn’t know what the Gum Wall is?” Then I realized, duh, not everyone lives in the Seattle area. 🤦‍♂️ I live in Portland, in fact. Although, I haven’t actually seen any gum walls, I do grasp the concept. Where I’m struggling is in trying to parse that Jack-in-the-Box ad. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/12 "2023-07-25T00:33:55Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Where I’m struggling is in trying to parse that Jack-in-the-Box ad. Without having seen the ad, my WAG is that Jack’s commercials have been targeting the 18-30 male stoner market for quite some time now, and chewing someone else’s abandoned gum is something you might do if you’re hungry and extremely high. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/13 "2023-07-25T00:45:31Z")
Ew. Something I haven’t done since I was four (chewing abandoned gum, that is. I wasn’t getting baked when I was four) . ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/14 "2023-07-25T00:48:11Z")
The Gum Wall is like some people I have known. They are beautiful from far away, but extremely disgusting up-close. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/15 "2023-07-25T00:53:41Z")
FWIW, my nephew thought the gum wall was awesome when my sister took him there last summer. Of course, my nephew is 9, so YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-gum-wall-mean/987484/16 "2023-07-25T09:50:55Z")
The Maid-Rite Sandwich Shoppe in Greenville, Ohio, has had one for decades.