True Gum Empties Berlin Stores of Conventional Gum to Reveal a Big Industry Secret

Plastic waste is a hot topic around the world, but not everyone is aware that there is plastic in most regular gum. That's why, True Gum, a Danish chew gum brand that is on growth, did what they call 'The big plastic raid', where they raided the city centre of Berlin from conventional gum and bought up competitors’ products - only to hand them out as free samples with information about its hidden ingredient: plastic. The imitative was made together with the Nordic creative agency Nord DDB.

To draw attention to the problem of plastic in chewing gum, True Gum resorted to new methods and emptied the store shelves and kiosks in the central district of Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin from chewing gum that may contain hidden plastic.

"People probably think we are crazy when we choose to empty an entire district in one of Europe's largest cities from chewing gum. Sometimes unconventional methods are required to create awareness about a problem. This is an important initiative that educates people about a topic rarely discussed: plastic in chewing gum. At True Gum, we think it's time to reveal the secret", says Peter Juul Regnersgaard, co-founder and marketing director at True Gum.

Chewing gum is traditionally made of a synthetic rubber base, which is a mixture of different synthetic substances and plastics. These ingredients are thus hidden under the term 'gum base' and are never shared with consumers. Therefore, not many people know that most regular chewing gum can contain the same type of plastic that is also used to produce plastic bottles and plastic bags. 

True Gum believes that people deserve to know what they might be chewing on. After the raid True Gum went one step further and showed consumers the naked truth by not simply letting the chewing gum disappear quietly, instead a re-sampling in the streets of Berlin took place, but where no one could miss the ingredients in conventional gum. They received a new, totally transparent packaging, with the messages 'most chewing gum contains plastic'. 

"Actions speak louder than words, and we owe it to our planet to do everything in our power to change the negative climate path, we as a society are heading down", says Peter Juul Regnersgaard, co-founder and marketing director at True Gum.

"We completed a very successful raid and a sampling event that turned out as maybe one of the world’s most unsuccessful sample sessions ever. When we showed people the truth about what’s in most of the competitor’s products they didn’t want it. They simply turned us down. And we’re talking free samples here. So hopefully, this entire operation will make them look for plastic free alternatives, like True Gum, next time they’re browsing the gum shelves for something to chew on", says Kristian Skjoldborg, from the creative team, NORD DDB.