( ) -q-29- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “to calm herself.” Gum makers are trying to figure out what will make Americans start chewing again. [CutID: <Cuts> GUM-SALES-house-q-THUam.mp3 Time: 29s Title: GUM-SALES-house-q-THUam Out-cue: to calm herself] TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Market research firm Circana says U.S. chewing gum sales rose less than 1% last year […]
Audio
To revive sales, candy companies pitch gum as stress reliever
( ) -q-29- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “to calm herself.”
Gum makers are trying to figure out what will make Americans start chewing again.
[CutID: <Cuts> GUM-SALES-house-q-THUam.mp3
Time: 29s
Title: GUM-SALES-house-q-THUam
Out-cue: to calm herself]
TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Market research firm Circana says U.S. chewing gum sales rose less than 1% last year to 1.2 billion packages, which was still 32% fewer than in 2018.
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VERBATIM: Generational habits, health concerns and the coronavirus pandemic have gnawed away at gum sales. Some manufacturers are leaving the U.S. market altogether. But Mars, which owns the 133-year-old Wrigley brand, is trying to reposition gum as a stress reliever and a concentration aid as well as a breath freshener. A Mars executive says the “aha moment” came from a nurse in a hospital COVID-19 ward who chewed gum behind a mask to calm herself.