Years: 1992-1995ish
Company: Warner Lambert (Cadbury/Dentyne)
Ugh.........fine. Here we go again. Thanks, early 90's. Thanks a lot.
YOU WANT SOME EXTREME CHEWING GUM!!!?????
I can't do it. We've already been over how everything in the early 90's was "Extreme".
Or as the kids were calling it, "Xtreme" with an X.
Or as Gary Sherone was saying: "Hey guys, lets call ourselves Extreme, but we really won't be? Irony is cool, right?"
And as Alanis Morissette would say a few years later "No, Gary...that's not Ironic."
Cinnaburst gum was Warner Lambert giving the middle finger to Wrigley's Big Red Chewing gum.
It was more.....as the kids say....Xtreme. It had these things in it called "Flavor Crystals" that really amped up the spiciness. It was a notch spicier then Big Red as I remember, but it had a gimmick, and as we have learned from past products with gimmicks (I'm looking in your direction, Orbitz...) people get excited then lose interest really fast.
It did drum up enough interest that Warner Lambert spun off the brand into a few other flavors to compete with other popular gum brands.
The first, Mint*A*Burst
Mint*A*Burst also had flavor Crystals, was extreme, and was created to go head to head with Double Mint gum. Which is a bold move......you don't mess with those twins.
Fruit*A*Burst was also had Flavor Crystals (Fruity Crystals), was Extreme, but only as extreme as a fruity gum can get. I mean, you don't really have much to work with. Cinnamon and Mint I can see, but I've never heard anyone say "This Fruit Flavor is too much for my mouth!!!" Make it stop!", which may be why the Fruit*A*Burst didn't carry the warning about not being suitable for adults, because it was so tame even adults could enjoy it.
And therein lies the downfall of the Bust gums.
Everyone knows that once adults start to do something it looses it's coolness for kids.
So a kid must have witnessed an adult put a stick of Fruit*A*Burst gum in his or her mouth, and the entire house of cards came tumbling down.
Yeah, I'm gonna go with that theory.
Also a weird side note: Remember the old story about how you could eat the wrappers to enhance the "Flavor Crystals" taste? Did anyone ever fall for that?
Because I sure did. And it did nothing other then make me feel stupid for eating a piece of foil lined paper.
Enjoy these random pictures from various Burst Commercials!
