Doublemint is a variety of

chewing gum Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/ plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its ...

made by the

Wrigley Company The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational chewing gum (Wrigley's gum) company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois. Wrigley's is wholly owned by Mars, I ...

; according to early advertisements, it is "double strength"

peppermint Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world.Euro+Med Plantb ...

flavored. It was launched in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

in 1914, and has had variable market share since then.

The Doublemint Twins history

As a play on the word "double" in the name, one of the most notable aspects of this brand is the advertising campaign featuring

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

s wearing matching outfits. Beginning in 1939 with stylized illustrations of twins, advertisements continued with print ads and later television commercials, featuring actual twins as

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

s. From 1959, the original "Doublemint Twins" were 21-year-old Jayne and Joan Knoerzer (professionally using their mother's maiden name, Boyd) of

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern L ...

, who appeared in advertisements for Doublemint until 1963 when Joan became pregnant. The company, however, continued sporadically to promote the campaign, which included twins Jennie and Terrie Frankel in the late 1960s; later "Doublemint Twins" included June and Patricia Mackrell through the 1970s (who had also been the Toni Twins for Toni Home Permanent, which used the slogan "Which twin has the Toni?"), Patricia and Priscilla aka (Cybil or "Cyb") Barnstable, Denise and Dian Gallup,

Cynthia Cynthia is a feminine given name of Greek origin: , , "from Mount Cynthus" on Delos island. The name has been in use in the Anglosphere since the 1600s. There are various spellings for this name, and it can be abbreviated to Cindy, Cyndi, Cyndy, ...

and

Brittany Daniel Brittany Ann Daniel (born March 17, 1976) is an American actress. She is the twin sister of photographer and former actress Cynthia Daniel. Daniel is best known for her roles as Jessica Wakefield in the teen drama series '' Sweet Valley High'' ...

(future co-stars as the Wakefield twins in the TV series based on the ''Sweet Valley High'' novels), Tia and Tamera Mowry in the early 90s (future co-star of ''

The Game The Game or The Games may refer to: Sports and games * The Game (dice game) (German: ''Das Spiel''), a dice game designed by Reinhold Wittig * The Game (mind game), a mind game, the objective of which is to avoid thinking about The Game itself * ...

'' with both Tia Mowry and

and future co-stars of '' Sister, Sister''), Heidi and Alissa Kramer, figure skaters Pamela and Jeremy Green, and Jean (née Barbara) and Elizabeth Sagal (daughters of TV director

Boris Sagal Boris Sagal (October 18, 1923 – May 22, 1981) was an American television and film director. Early life and career Born in Yekaterinoslav, Ukrainian SSR (now known as Dnipro, Ukraine) to a Ukrainian-Jewish family, Sagal immigrated to the Uni ...

and sisters of '' Married...With Children's''

Katey Sagal Catherine Louise "Katey" Sagal (; born January 19, 1954) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing Peggy Bundy on '' Married... with Children'' (1987–1997), Leela on '' Futurama'' (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2023), Cate Henne ...

). The Sagal twins enjoyed a brief run as the stars of a

sitcom A sitcom, a Portmanteau, portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troup ...

, '' Double Trouble,'' in 1984. Later twins projected more sex appeal in keeping with trends in American

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

; the Barnstable twins were later asked to pose for''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' due to their popularity as spokeswomen for the gum. In 1987, Denise and Dian Gallup spoofed their roles as the Doublemint Twins in cameo roles in the

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

film, ''

Spaceballs ''Spaceballs'' is a 1987 American space opera parody film co-written, produced and directed by Mel Brooks. It is primarily a parody of the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, but also parodies other sci-fi films and popular franchises including ...

.''

"Doublemint" trademark denied in EU

In 2004, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

Court of Justice ultimately denied Wrigley's request for trademark status on the name "Doublemint"; the Court found that the mark DOUBLEMINT was descriptive of the product and in violation of trademark law.

Known ingredients

The actual flavorings used in Doublemint gum are a

trade secret Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily a ...

, but the company does say that the main flavor ingredient is

. Although it is not a sugarless gum, in 2003 Wrigley's replaced some of the sugar with artificial sweeteners

aspartame Aspartame is an artificial non-saccharide sweetener 200 times sweeter than sucrose and is commonly used as a sugar substitute in foods and beverages. It is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide with the trade na ...

and acesulfame potassium. ;Listed Sugar,

gum base Gum base is the non-nutritive, non-digestible, water-insoluble masticatory delivery system used to carry sweeteners, flavors, and any other substances in chewing gum and bubble gum. It provides all the basic textural and masticatory properties ...

dextrose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, usin ...

corn syrup Corn syrup is a food syrup which is made from the starch of corn (called maize in many countries) and contains varying amounts of sugars: glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to soften ...

, natural and artificial flavors; less than 2% of

glycerol Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids know ...

gum arabic Gum arabic, also known as gum sudani, acacia gum, Arabic gum, gum acacia, acacia, Senegal gum, Indian gum, and by other names, is a natural gum originally consisting of the hardened sap of two species of the ''Acacia'' tree, ''Senegalia se ...

, soy lecithin, acesulfame K, color (

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insoluble ...

, blue 1 lake, beta-carotene),

BHT BHT may refer to: * Berliner Hochschule für Technik, is the second largest University of Applied Sciences in Berlin * Black hairy tongue * Blue Hill Troupe, a New York City-based musical theatre company * Boğaziçi Hava Taşımacılığı, a f ...

Chris Brown

R&B singer

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to ''Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempor ...

performed a modified version of "

Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama * ''Forever'' (1992 film), an American ...

" in a 2008 commercial for Doublemint, which introduced a thinner Plen-T-Pack package.

References

External links

Official Doublemint Gum website
{{Mars, Incorporated Wrigley Company brands Chewing gum Products introduced in 1914 Food advertising characters Brand name confectionery