| Have Your Chiclets Lost Their
Glamour?
by Allan R. Andrews
[Be sure to see the end of this article for mail responses
to the lack of Chiclets in the modern U.S.]
WASHINGTON -- As a boy, I had a favorite aunt who smiled at me when I acted or spoke naughtily, hugged me when I hurt, encouraged me when I wallowed in the dumps, and always carried a ready supply of Chiclets. In fact, if I asked for a piece of gum, my aunt more often than not gave me an entire box of candy-coated, white gum pellets called Chiclets. Gum chewing was frowned upon in my school and in my home, but my mother took a note from her sister's book and seemed to always have a Chiclet ready in church whenever my activity became too boisterous and distracting. About the only brand of chewing gum my family allowed came in the characteristic yellow, green or blue boxes -- depending on the flavor -- of the Adams Company's Chiclets. Alas, Chiclets, in my adult eyes, had gone the way of the Edsel. I couldn't find them on retail shelves anywhere. Not too long ago, as I searched for a child's toothbrush, I came across Dental Care Chewing Gum. To my surprise, I found this gum, which is manufactured by the Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Company and sold in the dental section of most stores, is a healthful imitation of the candy-coated gum I knew as Chiclets. Some investigation on my part showed that Chiclets are still being manufactured, although the product is now manufactured by Warner-Lambert, the company that bought out Adams and also gives us Trident, Clorets, and Dentyne chewing gum. Chiclets apparently continue to be pumped out of the company's plant in Toronto, Canada. Wouldn't you know it. My aunt and mother were Newfoundlanders, now considered essentially Canadian immigrants. I can't be sure, but I'd almost bet the family schooner that Chiclets were a staple in Newfoundland in the first half of this century. Maybe that's why so many of those like-heritage hockey players refer to a colleague who's lost his teeth as one who was "spittin' Chiclets." I'm beginning to think I'll have to go to Canada to find Chiclets. This doesn't mean gum chewing has joined the Edsel. Warner-Lambert also produces a hot new version of Dentyne called Dentyne Ice, and it comes in a form that imitates Chiclets, candy-coated white rectangles of sugar-free gum. Of course, Warner-Lambert still produces Clorets in a box similar in size and function to the Chiclets box, but containing sweet-coated rectangles of chlorophyll-colored gum, what one might describe as green Chiclets. Warner-Lambert thus makes Chiclets in fruit and peppermint flavors, Clorets in original chlorophyll and in wintergreen flavors and sugar-free Dentyne Ice in breath-freshening flavors of peppermint, spearmint and cinnamon. Add to that Arm & Hammer's Dental Care gum, and an old Chiclets fan like me has a bevy of coated pellets to pick from. To add to the treasury, Gum Tech International of Phoenix this year signed contracts to produce a plaque-fighting chewing gum and a gum under the BreathAsure label. I'm unsure if these will come in Chiclets-like form, but they tap into an area that is making the chewing of gum almost glamorous. Celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Michael Jordan, Burt Reynolds and Farrah Fawcett have given the chewing of gum a new fashion. The gum market in the U.S. has been suffering losses, according to a recent story in USA Today. To fight the dip, manufacturers are pushing so-called "functional" chewing gums: Gum that keeps one awake. Gum that helps one lose weight. Gum that improves one's love life. Gum that provides one's vitamins. Gum that relieves one's congestion. Gum that soothes one's sore throat. Gum that strengthens one's bones. And, of course, gum that sweetens one's breath, fights one's body odor and helps one's teeth. In fact, there is a gum produced in Missouri to improve one's spiritual life. It's called Bible Gum and while it has no seeming health or fitness benefits, it comes in a wrapper that provides a Bible verse. I expect any day to see a fan in the end zone bleachers holding a Gum 3:16 sign. Gum chewing, which for eons has drawn the ire of parents and etiquette gurus, seems to be fighting for a niche in today's lifestyle. It may have found it in a push of health and glamour. The sale of Dentyne jumped 15 percent in the first quarter of 1998; much of it attributed to sales of the Chiclets-like Dentyne Ice. The USA Today story cited some manufacturers who think the market contains too much hype right now so they're sticking to gums that "taste good." And studies show that the majority of those who chew gum regularly are between 6 and 18, while the average age of the U.S. consumer is moving higher, currently somewhere in the mid-30's. Other reports show that gum chewing is booming outside the United States. The world's biggest gum manufacturer, the Wrigley Company, sells 65 percent of its gum outside the country. In England, one report says that the skillful marketing of gum that is beneficial to teeth accounts for the boom in sales of chewing gum. The benefits and the glamour hype are overcoming the traditional negative image of gum chewing. Meanwhile, sugar-coated Chiclets sit unhyped like an expatriate at the border. The USA Today story also noted that the main competition for chewing gum comes from sweet candies and mints. Indeed, one of the hottest commodities on the market, according to a story in Forbes magazine last year, is Tootsie Roll Industries. This suggests to me that a smart combination for the manufacturers might be candy and gum. The glamour of Dentyne Ice, Clorets, Dental Care and some others might be not in their beneficial ingredients but in their candy-like coating. Something like Chiclets. Something kids would love. My aunt could have told the manufacturers this decades ago.
My Chiclets e-mailbag:On January 24, 1999, I received this informative e-mail in response to the above article:"Found them for sale in Mexico City on the
street. Small children and street
On September 20, 1999, I received this note from a Canadian reader: "It looks as if Chiclets have lost their
flavour in Canada too.
On November 9, 1999, this comment arrived: "Just sitting here chewing on Chiclets and
decided to do a Web search,
In November 2000, I got this note: "As a fellow freelance editor and writer who adores Chiclets (crunch and chew in the same bite!), I am very happy to say I've found a company that imports Chiclets from Lebanon for a mere $.50 per box (or you can get a box of 20 individual boxes of the same flavor for $8.99). The flat shipping rate is $4.99 by UPS (a small price to pay, I think, for such a wonderful selection of flavors). "They come in the following flavors (!): banana, cinnamon, "flavored" (looks from the package like bubble gum), fruit, "mastic" (have no idea what this one is; comes in a green-and-white striped box), peppermint, spearmint, strawberry, and tutti frutti. "Here's the link for the site: http://www.shamra.com/food/foodsearch.asp?subcat=sweets%20&%20snacks "The company is called Shamra International. "I'm ordering an individual box of each flavor to try them out, then will probably order again in bulk. Let me know how it works out if you decide to try ordering some. Feel free to pass this information to other Chiclet-lovers! Regards,"
On January 31, 2001, this note came from Hawaii: "Hi,
From someone who found Chiclets in Dallas, Texas, in 2002: "I always remembered getting Chiclets at the bank as a kid; they
always sent Chiclets back in drive-up teller canister. I found some
Chiclets at a BIG LOTS (a discount store chain) in Dallas TX this
weekend and bought a few. I found your Website trying to find a picture
of the Tiny Chiclets pack. By the way, on the boxes of Chiclets it
says 'Made in Mexico.' "
I'd like Canadian readers to take a peek at a column I wrote back in 1994 called, "Coming out of the Canada closet."
Allan R. Andrews is the former
editor of Pacific Stars and Stripes in Tokyo, Japan, and a former reporter
for The Boston Globe. He teaches high school at the Annapolis Area
Christian School in Annapolis, Md. He continues to write and edit
as a freelancer. He can be contacted at allan.andrews@reporters.net
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