Mentos
 |
A number of different Mentos flavors |
Mentos is a popular brand of
candy sold in many markets across the world by the
Perfetti Van Melle Corporation. Mentos was first produced in the
Netherlands during the
1950s. The candies are small
oblate spheroids, with a slightly hard exterior and a soft, chewy interior. They are sold in rolls which typically contain 14 candies, although the new "Sour Mix" flavor contains only 11. Certain flavors are sold in boxes in the
United States, and the rolls in three and six-packs. The slogan of Mentos is "the freshmaker".
Mentos is available in a variety of flavours, the most common being
mint and mixed fruit, an assortment of
orange,
strawberry, and
lemon. Mentos first appeared as a
liquorice-flavored candy which can still be purchased in the
Netherlands as "Drop Mentos". New flavors were initially test-marketed in the Netherlands and throughout Europe, but more recently, most flavors are available worldwide.
Other flavours include
green apple,
cinnamon,
strawberry, tropical fruit ( which contains a mix of strawberry, orange, and lemon flavors),
grape,
wintergreen,
grapefruit,
peach and
spearmint. Another version of the
mint flavor, known as "Strong Mentos", is sold in the
Netherlands, and is akin to an
Altoid. Also
currant and two versions of
black licorice flavored Mentos are available in Europe. In the late 70s a
sardine flavor was a miserable flop in the US and had sparse popularity in Europe.
Chocolate Mentos were produced in
1989, but the flavor was discontinued. In 2006, the citrus mango flavor was introduced to the Japanese market. A new product line, Mentos Sours have recently become available in the
United States, featuring Watermelon, Green Apple, and Lemon flavors.
In August
2005, Mentos began running TV ads announcing a new
sugar-free variety of the candy which comes in "mixed berries" and "cool mint" flavors sweetened with
Splenda.
One source of popularity of Mentos can be attributed to its
campy commercials, which debuted in late 1992 on American television. In the commercials, 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.
Dilemmas presented included a woman who breaks her shoe-
heel and a man who gets paint on his new business
suit after sitting down on a freshly-
painted
bench. After consuming a Mentos, the female character proceeds to break off the heel to her other undamaged shoe, and the man rolls around on the still-wet bench, creating a
pinstripe pattern on his suit. 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.
Many North American viewers believed that the 1990s commercials, with their unfamiliar and rather naive style, had been imported -- perhaps from Northern Europe, the candy's home. But many of the commercials were actually filmed in the United States.
The commercials have been widely parodied in popular culture. In a vignette from an episode of
Family Guy,
John Wilkes Booth botches the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln until assisted by a candy called "Mintos" which is presented with the Mentos slogan, "the freshmaker". The
Foo Fighters'
1996 music video,
Big Me, also parodied the Mentos commercials, using an imaginary
candy called Footos. In this video, the methods employed to solve problems are virtually direct copies of those portrayed in the actual commercials, sans the final "commercial". There exist also a number of amateur-made parodies on the
World Wide Web. Mentos were also parodied in the
Leslie Nielsen movie
Wrongfully Accused.
* A similar
candy in the
U.S., called "
Chewz", is manufactured by Lance, Inc. Mentos fans have jokingly referred to this as the "anti-Mentos".
* Trebor Softmints and Softfruits, introduced in
1981 and sold in the
UK and
Ireland by
Cadbury-Schweppes are also similar to Mentos, although with softer exterior coatings.
* Due to its high
surface area, Mentos allow for a rapid release of carbon dioxide when dropped into a
carbonated liquid. The escaping bubbles quickly turn into a raging foam, and the pressure can build dramatically in a restricted container such as a two-liter bottle. As explained on an episode of
MythBusters, diet soda is most commonly used for the experiment. Diet soda produces a larger geyser due to the increased carbonation, and the interaction of the
aspartame and other ingredients in the soda. The resulting geyser (popularly known as a
mentos eruption) can shoot as high as 6 meters (20 feet).
* a TV ad for Democratic Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate
Ned Lamont featuring blogger
Markos Moulitsas was re-cut by various bloggers into a parody of a Mentos commercial.
* Recent American commercials for Mentos have diverged from the widely-parodied format entirely, and feature a rendition of
2 Unlimited's
No Limit.
*
Official Mentos website*
Unofficial Mentos FAQ*
Mentos commercial filmography
