Mentos

Mentos is a brand of mints, of the "scotch mint" type, sold in many markets across the world by the Perfetti Van Melle corporation. Mentos was first produced in the Netherlands during 1948. The mints are small oblate spheroids, with a slightly hard exterior and a soft, chewy interior. They are sold in rolls which typically contain 14 mint discs, although the new "Sour Mix" flavor contains only 11 discs per roll. Certain flavors are sold in boxes in Australia, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil and the United Kingdom, and the rolls are available in four packs. The slogan of Mentos is "The Freshmaker". Most Mentos packages describe the mints as "chewy dragées." The typical Mentos roll is approximately 2 cm (0.79 in) in diameter and weighs 38 grams.

Ingredients

The mint mentos have sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil, gelatin, dextrin, natural flavor, corn starch, and gum arabic inside/outside of it. The flavored mentos (mixed fruit) have sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil, gellan gum, dextrin, natural and artificial flavor, gum arabic, and coloring inside/outside of it.^[1]

They have almost the same ingredients except that mint mentos has corn starch and mixed fruit has artificial flavoring and coloring.

Flavors

Mentos are available in several flavors including mint, mixed fruit, cola, bubble gum, and in an assortment of orange, strawberry, and lemon. Mentos first appeared as a liquorice-flavored sweet which can still be purchased in the Netherlands as "Drop Mentos." New flavors were initially test-marketed in the Netherlands and throughout Europe, however recently, most of the flavors have been available worldwide.

Other flavors include green apple, cinnamon, strawberry, mixed fruit (which contains a mix of cherry, strawberry, orange, and lemon flavors), grape, wintergreen, grapefruit, peach, plum, spearmint, strawberry yogurt, lemon yogurt, pineapple (pine fresh), red apple, wild fruit mix, cherry, watermelon, pear, blackcurrant, red orange, currant and two versions of black licorice flavored Mentos. Two varieties of the mint flavor, known as "Mentos Strong" and "Air action Mentos" are sold in the Netherlands. Also available in the Netherlands is the Special Mix 4 pack, containing the flavors mint, fruit, berry mix and mango orange. Two varieties of the mint flavor are also sold in China, known as "Mint" and "Strong Mint." Grape and 'N Cream (presumably Apples and Cream), Strawberry 'N Cream, and Banana 'N Cream are also marketed in Asia. Chocolate Mentos were produced in 1989, but the flavor was discontinued. In 2006, the citrus mango flavor was introduced to the Japanese market. In the Philippines, a "Dalandan Fresh" variant is available. Other varieties of Mentos include: Mentos Sours, which recently became available in the United States, featuring Watermelon, Green Apple, and Lemon flavors; caffeinated "Energy" Mentos, sold mainly in Germany, where one roll equals the amount of caffeine in two cups of coffee; "Fresh Cola" flavored Mentos released in New Zealand, Australia and parts of Europe and Asia; and "AIR Mentos" containing Menthol, which are sold primarily in Belgium and the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, Mentos Gum is sold in blisters and bottles in 6 different varieties: Pure (4 flavors), Fruit (4 flavors), Regular (5 flavors), Bubblegum, Cubes (4 flavors) and White (3 flavors). Mentos Gum is also available in Australia, Greece, China, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, Poland, the Philippines, and recently, the United States in blisters and bottles, both in three different flavors.

In August 2005, the variety of the mint which comes in "mixed berries" and "cool mint" flavors was changed to be sweetened with sucralose. In the Netherlands the flavors mint, licorice and fruit are also available in the sugar-free variety.

Australian varieties of Mentos are Mint, Fruit, Strong Mint, Berry Blast, Spearmint, Grape, Cola, Sour Mix, Tropical, Pineapple and Mocktail (piña colada and mojito). Mentos Gum is also available in Peppermint, Spearmint and Orangemint.

The UK has five current flavors of rolls:

• Fruit (Orange, lemon and strawberry)
• Mint
• Spearmint
• Rainbow flavors (with 2 flavors of each of the following - Raspberry, Watermelon, Apple, Pineapple, Orange, Black Grape and Strawberry).
• Tutti-Frutti - bubblegum flavored - new for 2012.

In the UK, Mentos Gum is also available stick packs (peppermint, spearmint, pure white, air action (menthol) and fruit), Bottles (spearmint, peppermint and red fruit - which retails for approximately £0.99), as well as flip top boxes in peppermint or spearmint with green tea extract, and a pure white with white teas extract. Sugar free versions are available, but these are rarer to find, usually only found in large supermarkets. Mentos gum holds a 4% market share of the UK gum market. A new Mentos 3 was launched in January 2011, in two flavors - mint and Strawberry/Apple/Raspberry, which are similar to Wrigleys' 5 in packaging. A new blackberry/kiwi/strawberry version was released into the UK market in January 2012.

In Greece, Mentos are very popular, and are available in the following formats:

• Mint
• Strawberry
• Melon
• Watermelon
• Fruit (Orange, lemon and strawberry),
• Energy (each roll is equivalent to 2 cups of coffee)
• Mentos gum in Bottles
• Mentos Cube
• Mentos in Boxes (mint and Fruit).

Mini Mentos, somewhat smaller than ordinary Mentos, are available in the Netherlands in two varieties: Mini Mentos Fruitmix, which contains the flavors orange, lemon, strawberry and apple, and Mini Mentos Yoghurt, with the flavors strawberry yogurt, raspberry yogurt and blueberry yogurt. Also sold is Mentos KIDZ, a bag with 12 boxes containing 10 miniature candies, in the flavors strawberry, orange, lemon, apple and blueberry. "Mentos Teens" is available in Brazil and the rest of Latin-America. They come in a rectangular box. The mint is basically miniature Mentos roughly the size of Skittles, and they come in mixed flavors: white grape (green), lemon (yellow), strawberry (pink), orange (orange), raspberry (blue), and cherry (red).

During the World Cup, a Brazilian team Mentos was released in Brazil to support the national team. The mint was green and yellow.

In some countries, the Mentos Ice candy can be bought in flavors such as, cherry (red), green apple (green) and grape (purple).

Ume, Fuji apple, and Pine Fresh (pineapple) Mentos are sold exclusively in Japan.

Marketing

Part of Mentos's popularity in the US can be attributed to its campy TV commercials and catchy jingle, which debuted in late 1991 on American television. Shot in South Africa, individuals facing various day-to-day dilemmas consume Mentos and are subsequently inspired to solve their problems at hand in a creative, often-humorous fashion.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}

These unusual behaviors are typically witnessed by nearby, sometimes antagonistic characters, and a roll of Mentos is boisterously displayed by the commercial's respective protagonist to the observer as an explanation for their actions. The ad campaign was parodied in the Foo Fighters music video for their song "Big Me."^[15] A parody of the Mentos television ad campaign was also featured in the indie film comedy "NoHo" from 1995.

Worth noting is the resurgence of popularity for these campy spots. A handful of self-styled recreations have been independently produced by YouTube users.

Recently, Mentos Gum has gotten its own commercial. It displays a man sitting near a business water tank, and pops a piece of Mentos Gum in his mouth. A woman then walks by, pushes his nose up, and proceeds to kiss him, the kiss making a slurping sound. The woman then wipes her mouth, and pushes the man's nose back down as if to close it. The phrase "Mouthwatering" was used. However, more recently, the slurping, kissing sounds have been removed.^[16]

In India, the slogan of Mentos is 'Mentos Khao Dimaag Ki bati jalao' which translates to 'Eat Mentos and turn on your mind's idea lightbulb'. TV ads are generally based on a situation where a loser eats Mentos and becomes a winner.

Another Mentos advert highlighted the multicolored variety of the sweets by showing a scene where two young lovers are sitting in a living room. The teen girl screams as a small seemingly harmless spider crawls across the carpet. This prompts the teen boy to get off the couch that they are sitting on and pick up the spider, only to be violently thrown about by the spider. The slogan at the end reads "sometimes it's best to be ready for the next thing"

Mentos in Arabic countries, such as Egypt or Morocco, are often sold in smaller rolls roughly half the size of a regular Mentos roll.

Mentos is the plural form of the word, with 'mento' being the singular form.^[17]

Competing brands

• A similar mint in the US, called "Chewz", is manufactured by Lance, Inc. Mentos fans have jokingly referred to this as the "anti-Mentos."^{[citation needed]}
• Trebor Softmints and Softfruits, introduced in 1981 and sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Cadbury-Schweppes are also similar to Mentos, although slightly larger and with softer exterior coatings.

Mentos and soft drink reaction

First demonstrated by chemistry teacher Lee Marek on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1999,^[18] and later popularized in a June 2006^[19] viral Internet video by Eepybird, a Mentos mint expedites a rapid release of carbon dioxide when dropped into a carbonated liquid, such as a soft drink. A variety of factors, contributed by both the candies and the soda, contribute to the dramatic effect.

When the candies come into contact with the liquid, a reaction causes the formation of foam at a rapid rate. A 2006 episode of the television show Mythbusters concluded that the potassium benzoate, aspartame, and CO₂ gas contained in the Diet Coke, in combination with the gelatin and gum arabic ingredients of the Mentos, all contribute to formation of the foam.^[20] However, the structure of the Mentos is the most significant cause of the eruption due to nucleation. The surface of the candy is a highly pitted surface that offers a large, concentrated number of nucleation sites for CO₂ bubbles to form (nucleate). Mythbusters reported that when flavored Mentos with a smooth waxy coating were tested in carbonated drink there was hardly a reaction, whereas standard Mentos added to carbonated drink formed an energetic eruption, affirming the nucleation-site theory.

The resulting geyser (popularly known as a "Diet Coke and Mentos eruption") can shoot as high as 6 meters (20 ft). The unofficial record, reached in MythBusters, was over 34 feet with the use of a nozzle.^[20]

A Guinness World Record of 2,865 simultaneous geysers was set on October 17, 2010, in an event organized by Perfetti Van Melle (Philippines) at the SM Mall of Asia Complex, in Manila, Philippines.^[21]

In November, 2006, the Urban Legends Reference Pages examined the rumors of people dying from eating Mentos and drinking cola. Their research found that while eating Mentos and drinking cola can result in people regurgitating the foamy result, no actual news accounts exist of anyone dying from it.^[22] MythBusters also tested this hypothesis using sheep parts and found that the act of drinking the cola releases enough of the carbonation to prevent the violent reaction caused when the Mentos is added to the cola directly.

This reaction was used as a plot point in the film Wreck It Ralph. One of the film's protagonists lives in "Diet Cola Mountain," where inhabitants must "beware of falling Mentos" stalactites. If these Mentos pieces fall into the mountain's diet cola hot springs, the result is a violent eruption, which plays a part in the film's finale.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mentos candies.

• Official Mentos website
• Official Mentos Arabia website
• Mentos commercial filmography Archived December 10, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• The Mentos FAQ V.01 (beta)