Fit's Citrus Mix Gum

If there were ever proof that gum is a boring product and almost all of the limited angles associated with marketing it have been played out, it is this gum. When I bought it, my motive was to get something other than throat lozenges to help combat my dry throat on days when I did a lot of teaching. When I looked inside, there was a whole other dimension to this product.


The gum actually comes with instructions for how to remove it from the box. I don't think I've ever needed to be told how to chew gum before. I'm guessing Lotte, which produces this gum, must feel that its consumers are especially dumb. They even give you illustrations.


The whole point of this gum chewing instruction sheet is to let you know that the complex process of removing the wrapper from the gum and placing it in your mouth has been made more convenient and simplified for you by the good folks at Lotte. When you grab a piece of gum from the box, the bottom half tears along a perforation and stays stuck in the box so you can raise the exposed gum to your mouth and shove it in. I'm surprised they don't include pictures of how to move your jaw so you can understand how to actually chew. I'm even more surprised that they don't have an illustration of a throat with a "no" illustration (circle with a line through it) to make sure you don't swallow it.

The gum itself is billed as having long-lasting flavor and it actually does retain diminished flavor for up to about a half hour. The intense flavor that comes at first lasts a far shorter time. It's not a very pleasant citrus blend though. The main element is grapefruit and lemon and it strongly tastes of artificial sweetener. Maltitol and Erythritol are the first two ingredients, after all. This keeps the entire box of 12 small pieces (the same size as Dentyne) down to 32 calories, but it's just not very good. I won't be buying this gum again. Well, I might buy it again if I ever suffer severe brain damage and forget how to unwrap gum and put it in my mouth.

If you'd like to download some desktop pictures of this gum's promotional pictures (an iPod style dancing silhouette), you can get them here.