Juicy Fruit

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Juicy Fruit
Juicy Fruit.svg
Website http://www.juicyfruit.com/

Juicy Fruit is an American brand of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company, a U.S. company that since 2008 has been a subsidiary of the privately held Mars, Incorporated. It was introduced in 1893, and in the 21st century the brand name is recognized by 99 percent of Americans, with total sales in 2002 of 153 million units. [1]

Contents

Description

Flavor

Along with the standard flavor, they have also done collaborations with Starburst to release Fruit Punch, Cherry and Watermelon flavors. Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Starburst Fruit Punch Gum.jpg
Along with the standard flavor, they have also done collaborations with Starburst to release Fruit Punch, Cherry and Watermelon flavors.

Which fruit serves as the model for its flavor is kept vague in advertising, though in 2003, advertising agency BBDO characterized it as a combination of banana and pineapple, [1] and some people [2] say it resembles jackfruit. According to two books in the Imponderables series, peach is one crucial flavor among many others. [3] [4]

It is likely that the chemical used for flavoring is isoamyl acetate (sometimes known as banana oil), a carboxylic ester, which is also found in jackfruit. [5] [6]

Consumer demographics

The average age of the typical Juicy Fruit consumer is under 20, with three to eleven year olds making up the heart of the business; those twenty years old and over account for 40% of the purchases. [1]

Sean Payton, head coach of the Denver Broncos and former head coach of the New Orleans Saints of the NFL, is well known for requesting Juicy Fruit in the middle of games. [7]

Ingredients

Juicy Fruit gum consists mostly of sugar contained in a synthetic gum base. Other ingredients include corn syrup and dextrose as bulk agents and natural sweeteners, natural and artificial flavorings, glycerol and lecithin as softening agents, aspartame (NutraSweet) and acesulfame K as artificial sweeteners, Yellow Lake 5 as a coloring and BHT as a preservative.

In the UK, the ingredients used are as listed: Sugar, Gum Base, Glucose Syrup, Flavourings, Humectant (Glycerol), Emulsifier (Soybean Lecithin), Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Sucralose), Antioxidant (BHA).

History

When William Wrigley Jr. started his new business in Chicago, he began by selling his father's Scouring Soap, which he would entice customers to purchase by adding a free gift of baking powder. The baking powder offered ended up being far more popular than the Scouring Soap, so he switched to selling the baking powder instead. In 1892, Wrigley Jr. decided to give his baking powder customers a free gift, this time, attaching a few sticks of chewing gum to the box of baking powder.

The chewing gum was far more popular than the baking powder, so Wrigley Jr. again switched his business this time to chewing gum. In 1893, Wrigley Jr. introduced a new flavor of gum, Juicy Fruit, which helped the Wrigley Company to become the most popular and successful chewing gum company in the world. [8]

A Juicy Fruit wrapper from 1946, described on the package as a "fascinating artificial flavor". Juicy Fruit 1946.JPG
A Juicy Fruit wrapper from 1946, described on the package as a "fascinating artificial flavor".

When the brand first entered the market, it was packaged simply, with a plain wrapper and "JUICY FRUIT" in red, thin block letters. In 1914, Wrigley changed it to thin vertical white and green stripes with "Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Chewing Gum" centered in a stylized Maltese Cross emblem with a black background. [9]

Juicy Fruit was taken off of the civilian market temporarily during World War II because of ingredient shortages and the demand for the gum to be included in C-rations. When the gum was reintroduced to the general public after World War II ended, the striped packaging was replaced by one with a bright yellow background and "Juicy Fruit" bracketed between two stylized chevrons, the latter a motif meant to echo the "Wrigley arrow" element used for Wrigley's Spearmint since 1893. [9]

The bright yellow background remained into the 21st century, with variations since 2002 turning the arrowhead like chevrons into the corners of an elongated smile under the brand name. [9] Juicy Fruit is still widely popular today. [10]

In 2003 in the United States, Wrigley's replaced some of the sugar in Juicy Fruit with two artificial sweeteners, aspartame and Acesulfame potassium.

"Grapefruit—Juicy Fruit" is a song written and performed by singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was first released on his 1973 album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean and was his third single from that album. The single reached #23 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart in September 1973.

It also features in the 1983 song "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume. [11] Separately, a Juicy Fruit jingle that ended with the lyrics—"the taste, the taste, the taste is gonna move ya!"—was widely recognizable in TV advertisements throughout the 1980s.[ citation needed ]

Alongside other famous flavors like Wrigley's Spearmint, Juicy Fruit was discontinued in Germany and Austria in 2022. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aspartame</span> Artificial non-saccharide sweetener

Aspartame is an artificial non-saccharide sweetener 200 times sweeter than sucrose and is commonly used as a sugar substitute in foods and beverages. It is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide with brand names NutraSweet, Equal, and Canderel. Aspartame was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1974, and then again in 1981, after approval was revoked in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugar substitute</span> Sugarless food additive intended to provide a sweet taste

A sugar substitute is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may be derived through manufacturing of plant extracts or processed by chemical synthesis. Sugar substitute products are commercially available in various forms, such as small pills, powders, and packets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chewing gum</span> Soft substance meant to be chewed without swallowing

Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its texture is reminiscent of rubber because of the physical-chemical properties of its polymer, plasticizer, and resin components, which contribute to its elastic-plastic, sticky, chewy characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acesulfame potassium</span> Calorie-free sugar substitute

Acesulfame potassium, also known as acesulfame K or Ace K, is a synthetic calorie-free sugar substitute often marketed under the trade names Sunett and Sweet One. In the European Union, it is known under the E number E950. It was discovered accidentally in 1967 by German chemist Karl Clauss at Hoechst AG. Acesulfame potassium is the potassium salt of 6-methyl-1,2,3-oxathiazine-4(3H)-one 2,2-dioxide. It is a white crystalline powder with molecular formula C
4
H
4
KNO
4
S
and a molecular weight of 201.24 g/mol.

Doublemint is a variety of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company; according to early advertisements, it is "double strength" peppermint flavored. It was launched in the United States in 1914, and has had variable market share since then.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrigley Company</span> American candy and gum company

The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational candy and chewing gum company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orbit (gum)</span> Brand of chewing gum

Orbit is a brand of sugarless chewing gum from the Wrigley Company. In the United States, where it was re-launched in 2001, it is sold in cardboard boxes with 14 individually wrapped pieces per package. In the UK, where it was launched in 1899 it was originally sold as a traditional long-stick gum, later replaced by the same format as the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiclets</span> Brand of candy-coated chewing gum

Chiclets is an American brand of candy-coated chewing gum manufactured by Perfetti Van Melle. The brand was introduced in 1900 by the American Chicle Company, a company founded by Thomas Adams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trident (gum)</span> Sugar-free chewing gum brand

Trident is a brand of sugar-free chewing gum. It was originally introduced by American Chicle in 1960 shortly before it was bought by Warner-Lambert in 1962. It reached the UK in 2007 when it was introduced by its then-owner Cadbury Schweppes in the United Kingdom. In many other European countries, Trident is branded as Stimorol gum; it is generally the same as Trident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spearmint (flavour)</span> Mint flavor

Spearmint is a flavour that is either naturally or artificially created to taste like the oil of the herbaceous Mentha spicata (spearmint) plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Red (gum)</span> Brand of chewing gum

Big Red is a cinnamon flavored chewing gum introduced by the William Wrigley Jr. Company in 1975. Big Red was available in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the mid to end of the 1990s, but is no longer available there. It is a popular souvenir for visitors to the United States from Ireland, or the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equal (sweetener)</span> Brand of food sweetener

Equal is an American brand of artificial sweetener containing aspartame, acesulfame potassium, dextrose and maltodextrin. It is marketed as a tabletop sweetener by Merisant, a global corporation which also previously owned the well-known NutraSweet brand when it was a subsidiary of Monsanto and which has headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, Switzerland, Mexico, and Singapore. In French Canada, Equal is known as "Égal".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrigley's Spearmint</span> Brand of chewing gum

Wrigley's Spearmint is a brand of Wrigley's chewing gum. Wrigley's launched the brand in 1893, and marketed the gum as its classic brand, although the company's brand Juicy Fruit has been on the market slightly longer. As the name implies, the gum is flavored with the spearmint plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eclipse (breath freshener)</span> Brand of chewing gum and breath mints

Eclipse is a brand of chewing gum and breath mint, first introduced in the U.S. by the Wrigley Company in 1999 as its first entrant into the U.S. pellet gum segment. It was modeled after Excel in Canada, which was launched in 1991.

Canderel is a brand of artificial sweetener made mainly from aspartame. Canderel is marketed by The Merisant Company, a global corporation with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, also Switzerland, Mexico, United Kingdom, and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cumberland Packing Corporation</span> American food company

Cumberland Packing Corporation is a privately owned company located at 2 Cumberland Street, in Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded in 1945 by Benjamin Eisenstadt and is best known as the manufacturer, distributor, and marketer of Sweet'n Low, a saccharin-based zero-calorie sweetener sold in pink packets.

Fruit2O, formerly manufactured by Kraft, is a lightly flavored, non-carbonated water beverage introduced in 1999. Fruit2o was introduced to compete not only with the bottled water market but also with the soft drink market. Sunny Delight Beverages purchased the Veryfine Products line from Kraft in 2007.

Gum base is the non-nutritive, non-digestible, water-insoluble masticatory delivery system used to carry sweeteners, flavors, and any other substances in chewing gum and bubble gum. It provides all the basic textural and masticatory properties of gum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5 (gum)</span> Chewing gum brand from Wrigley

5 is a brand of sugar-free chewing gum that is manufactured by the Wrigley Company, marketed toward teenagers. The name "5" hints at the five human senses and that it has 5 calories.

References

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  8. "Global Petcare, Food, Mars Wrigley and Edge Brands | Mars, Incorporated".
  9. 1 2 3 Juicy Fruit Packaging Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine , from Wrigley's website
  10. "Fruit Juice Market Size, Share, Trends & Forecast 2021-2026". www.imarcgroup.com. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  11. Mtume - Juicy Fruit , retrieved 2023-10-07
  12. "Production stopped – The popular chewing gum will soon be discontinued". todaytimeslive.com. March 10, 2023.