ADULTS GRAB FOR GUM, ELBOWING CHILDREN ASIDE
By KIM SEVERSON June 19, 2005

Holly Leicht loves to eat, but her job does not always allow time for lunch. On those days, Ms. Leicht, an assistant commissioner for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, chews bubble gum.

It is more substantial than her day-to-day, go-to chew. For that, she relies on spicy white pellets of Altoids gum in their stylish tin.

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Ms. Leicht, 35, takes comfort in knowing she is not the only one around City Hall with a mouthful of minty freshness.

"You're not going to see the commissioner chewing gum, but I have noticed a lot of people within the administration, fairly highly placed, who are chewing gum now," she said.

Gum is America's favorite snack, according to a survey released last week by the NPD Group, a market research company. Although people spend more money over all on chocolate - $15 billion in 2004 - it is second on the list. Fresh fruit is third. Neither of those comes close to the number of times people reach for gum on a daily basis, said Harry Balzer of NPD, which has been collecting data on what people eat between meals for 20 years.

With many people trying to put fewer calories and fewer cigarettes in their mouths, and with a rising desire for bolder flavors and affordable luxuries, today's gum game is all about adults.

Driven by elaborately packaged and intensely flavored sugarless gum, the $3.3 billion industry grew about 6 percent last year and is even stronger this year, according to the National Confectioners Association. At the association's trade show last week, 86 new gums were introduced, including ones that help people lose weight or that taste like chocolate.

Bubble gum, even brands that do not add to the family dental bill, has been in a slump that started after the glory days of the late 1980's and early 1990's, when flavored versions were introduced.

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But all is not smooth in the gum world. Market researchers predict the current gum boom could be at its peak. Some of it is simple demographic reality. As people get older, they chew less gum.

"Line extensions and me-too products are not enough to expand the category," according to a January report on the gum and mint industry by the research firm Mintel. "Further innovation will be required to spur growth."

To keep adults chewing longer, gum makers are introducing an ever-expanding line of flavors and textures, and experimenting with gums that give chewers a jolt of caffeine, vitamins or cholesterol-reducing drugs. Wrigley even has a patent that covers a Viagra gum, although it is years away from development.

The proportion of Americans chewing gum, about two-thirds, has not changed much. What has changed, according to market research, is the number of times people reach for gum and the reasons they chew, said Brad Irwin, president of Cadbury Adams, whose brands include Bubblicious and Dentyne.

"The No. 1 reason people chew gum is to freshen their breath," he said. "But we're finding that instead of reaching for something with sugar, they reach for a fruit gum to satisfy a sweet craving."

In the same way Americans are embracing stronger flavors, like darkly roasted coffee or mayonnaise spiked with chipotle peppers, consumers are turning to gum flavors that only a marketer could come up with, like ice arctic chill, fire cinnamon spice and wintergreen fusion. For a break from intense mint, they can choose from fruit flavors like tropical twist or candy-coated strappleberry from Juicy Fruit, a brand that has been around since 1893.

"Bolder flavors in virtually all food groups are growing," said Robert Goldin, executive vice president of Technomic, a food and restaurant consulting company. "Some of that's due to increasing ethnic populations. Or you could just argue we've been eating the same darn thing for so long."

Gum chewers are a fickle lot, with 60 percent changing flavors and brands regularly. And as people age, their gum habit fades. So manufacturers churn flavors and packaging designs to hold on to customers. Many of them were introduced at the National Confectioners Association's convention last week.

"Gum is the shining star of the show," said Susan Fussell, a spokeswoman for the
association.

There were novelties aimed at children, like six-foot rolls of sour bubble gum and ABC gum, which is sold in lumps that look like the already-been-chewed gum that brothers often tease their younger siblings with. There were novelties with a religious theme, like gum in the shape of the Christian fish symbol. A Bible verse is printed inside the tin.

Melissa Rothner-Levine and her husband, David Levine, run a kosher candy store in Skokie, Ill. They searched the convention floor in vain for an American-made kosher gum. "We grew up with Juicy Fruit," Mrs. Rothner-Levine said. "Let me tell you if that gum became kosher, we would sell out."

The so-called functional gums had a small but popular presence at the show. The New Jersey manufacturers of Jolt caffeine gum were showing off their latest chew, Nutri-Trim diet gum, with herbs that supposedly increase metabolism. The seller of Blitz spearmint energy gum promised as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. Wrigley and Cadbury Adams, which account for half of all gum and mint sales in the United States, offered gum pellets to whiten teeth.

Chewing gum analysts - and there are such people - wonder just how much hotter and icier Americans can go. Softer, smoother flavors are already on the horizon. O'lala Foods in Illinois is trying its hand at chocolate gum. Wrigley is introducing Orbit Sweetmint and Bubblemint. Cadbury Adams just introduced Trident with two flavors in the same pack of Wintergreen Fusion - an extreme and a mellow version, to be mixed or chewed separately.

And gum manufacturers are increasingly trying to put their signature flavor into mints. Gum far outsells mints, according to a January gum and mint report by Mintel. Still, savvy gum marketers figure having a popular gum flavor in mint form is one way to keep their products in the mouths of Americans.

"There are chewers and there are suckers," said Ralph Scozzafava, a senior vice president at Wrigley, the nation's top gum company. "Some people do both and some of it is situational. Do I chew gum on a business meeting or on a date?" Despite the innovation, classic Wrigley flavors like Doublemint and spearmint are still growing, particularly among some immigrant groups who look to iconic American brands as a way to assimilate, Mr. Scozzafava said.

Keri Jeremiah, 25, took up a Juicy Fruit habit when she arrived from Jamaica as a teenager. She works in a hotel in Philadelphia, and says the gum gives her nice breath. "There's no aftertaste. It's just some kind of fruit flavor," she said. Gums with less intense, sweet or minty flavors are popular in countries like China, where herbal and coffee flavors sell well. But do not expect to see savory gums in America.

"We can produce some wonderful flavors that can model your Sunday dinner, but we found that's not where consumers want to spend their confectionary dollar," Mr. Scozzafava said.

For some, no matter what the flavor, gum chewing is and always will be a rude habit.

Fred Leicht Jr. of St. Louis, the father of Holly Leicht, the New York City official who sometimes has bubble gum for lunch, explained why.

"When I was growing up, Hollywood and early TV would portray the ditzy blonde working at the diner with tough, course language as the gum chewer," he said. "She would always snap the gum. My daughter is a very bright person. I think: 'God, I can't take this. My smart daughter is doing this ditzy thing.' "

Source: www.nytimes.com

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