Tic Tac

Tic Tac
Product type Breath mints
Owner Ferrero SpA
Country Italy
Introduced 1969
Markets 100+ countries
Website www.tictac.com

Tic Tac (officially styled as "tic tac") is a brand of small, hard mints, consisting of 94.5% sugar,[1] manufactured by the Italian confectioner Ferrero, and are available in a variety of flavours in over 100 countries.

Tic Tacs were first produced in 1969. They are usually sold in small transparent plastic boxes with a flip-action living hinge lid. Originally, Tic Tacs were dyed specific colours for different flavours, although in many countries the transparent plastic boxes are coloured and the actual Tic Tacs are white.

History

Tic Tacs were first introduced by Ferrero in 1969, under the name "Refreshing Mints". In 1970, the name was changed to Tic Tacs, after the distinctive sound of the mints rattling in their container.[2][3] Besides the original "Orange" and Fresh Mint flavors, several new varieties were added, including aniseed, cinnamon (or "Winter Warmer"), an orange and lime mix (in 1976), spearmint, peppermint, Powermint, sour apple, mandarin, tangerine, berry, fresh orange, strawberry, wintergreen, pink grapefruit, orange and lime together (in 1978[4]), cherry, passion fruit (in 2007), pomegranate (in 2010), mango, lime, and popcorn (2014). The grape flavour was eliminated in 1976 because of health concerns about the red dye amaranth (FD&C Red #2), a suspected carcinogen. Orange Tic Tacs were sold without the Grape.

Other offerings have included holiday gift packs for Christmas, Easter, St Patricks Day, and Valentine's Day.

Since 1980, the Tic Tac slogan has been "The 1½ Calorie Breath Mint".

During the 1990s, "double packs" were introduced, featuring a regular Tic Tac container with two flavours inside. Available combinations included Tangerine and Lime, Orange and Grape, and Berry and Cherry.

In the UK, France, Ireland, Italy and Australia Tic Tacs are noted as being less than two calories with the slogan "Two hours of Tic Tac freshness in less than two calories". In Canada, New Zealand and Australia, and used once in the United States, the Tic Tac slogan is "it's not just a mint, it's a tic tac". In India, the Tic Tac slogan is "Refreshment to be shared".

In 2006, Tic Tac introduced a "Bold" edition with more intense flavours of Mint and Fruit.

Orange Tic Tacs featured prominently in the 2007 film Juno, in an orange box with white colour candies as are sold in Canada and Brazil. Film promoters distributed boxes of the candies prior to the film's release.

In 2008, Tic Tac introduced Tic Tac Chill, which is slightly larger than ordinary Tic Tacs and comes in a dual-opening packaging, using the traditional living hinge or a sliding opening on the front of the case. These come in three flavours: Exotic Cherry, Berry Blast, and Paradise Mint. Tic Tac Chill mints are also sugar-free, the Exotic Cherry ones instead of being sweetened with xylitol.

May of 2010 Australia Trademark Registrar's office rejected Ferrero application to trademark their Tic Tac container as not being unique enough to distinguish its products from other manufacturers.[5]

Orange, Mint, Spearmint, Mintensity, Peach and Passion, Strawberry Mix, Cherry, Elaichi (cardamom) and Banana are available in India.

Tic Tac sometimes provides limited editions to promote films.[6] In 2015, a special Minions movie edition was produced containing banana or passion fruit flavoured Tic Tacs. There were three different covers with pictures of either Stuart, Kevin or Bob.

Manufacturing

Forty-five percent of the world's Tic Tacs are manufactured in the Ferrero factory in Cork, Ireland.[7]

Tic Tacs are also manufactured in Australia, Canada, India and Ecuador.

Nutrition facts

For Fresh mint (Europe/US/Canada); Peppermint (Australia)

Nutritional information

Per 100 g – Energy 1663 kJ (391 kcal), Protein 0.1 g, Carbohydrate 97.5 g, Fat 0.4 g.

Per Tic Tac – Energy 8 kJ (2 kcal), Protein 0 g, Carbohydrate 0.5 g, Fat 0 g.

Ingredients

Sugar, maltodextrin, tartaric acid, natural and artificial flavours, rice starch, gum arabic, filling agent (magnesium stearate), artificial colours, glazing agent (carnauba wax).

Each pack weighs 15–18 g and contains about 38 Tic Tacs. New packs in Australia and Canada weigh 24 g and contain 50 Tic Tacs, and the Tic Tac "Big Box" weighs 49 g and contains 100 Tic Tacs. The "Big Pack" weighs 29 grammes (1 ounce) and contains 60 pieces. The "Jumbo Pack" weighs 98 grammes (3.4 ounce) and contains 205 pieces.

Each Tic Tac weighs just under 0.5 g. US Federal regulations state that if a single serving contains less than 0.5 g of sugars it is allowable to express the amount of sugar in a serving as zero.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Flavors - Tic Tac". tictac.de. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  2. ↑ "Tic Tac's Web Flavor". Business Week. August 13, 2006. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  3. ↑ "Tic Tac History", Official Tic Tac website, retrieved 2014-12-30
  4. ↑ "Ferrero UK & Ireland - tic tac". www.ferrero.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  5. ↑ http://www.novagraaf.com/en/news?newspath=/NewsItems/en/to-be-or-not-to-be-registered-the-shapes-of-a-product-or-packaging
  6. ↑ "Tic Tac – Timeline Photos | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  7. ↑ "Tic Tac in Ireland - Love Irish Food". www.loveirishfood.ie. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  8. ↑ "21 CFR 101.9 (c)(6)(ii)". Access.gpo.gov. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
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