Chewing Gum Industry’s Survival: The Race for Long-Lasting Bestsellers!
Will it be Lotte with "Xylitol" or Mondelez with "Chloretz" that will survive? Or will it be Ezaki Glico or Marukawa Seika?
The Struggling Gum Industry
Chewing gum may have become an old man’s snack.
In March of last year, when the whole country rejoiced at Samurai Japan’s WBC victory, a decision made by Meiji, the largest confectionery company in Japan, shook the gum industry.
“Meiji announced the discontinuation of ‘Xylish’ and ‘Petit Gum,’ and declared their withdrawal from the gum market. ‘Xylish’ was one of their flagship products, with massive advertising campaigns featuring famous personalities such as Masaharu Fukuyama and Kaela Kimura. The shock was much bigger than imagined” (Industry newspaper reporter).
There was a reason behind Meiji’s exit. The gum market, which had reached sales of 188.1 billion yen in its peak year of 2004, had dropped to 71 billion yen by 2022, less than half of its former size.
Meanwhile, the gummy market, which had long trailed behind the gum market, overtook it in terms of sales in 2021.
“Gum is a confectionery that doesn’t finish in your mouth. Naturally, you need to spit it out onto paper and throw it away. However, due to counter-terrorism measures, garbage bins have disappeared from train station platforms and from small parks. Additionally, more people are commuting or going to school while wearing earphones, which has also played a big role. The chewing sound interferes with music or video sound” (Chihiro Matsubayashi, a confectionery expert who appears on TV and other media).
Currently, the main consumer group for gum is the baby boomer generation, and younger people recognize gum as a snack that requires the hassle of throwing away trash and lacks smartness. For breath freshening, mint tablets, which dissolve directly in the mouth, tend to be chosen instead” (Chihiro Matsubayashi, confectionery expert).
In the midst of the continued struggles of the gum industry, one company that continues to fight is Lotte. Lotte, known for its long-selling products like “Ghana Milk,” “Yukimi Daifuku,” and “Choco Pie,” originally focused on manufacturing and selling chewing gum when it was founded in 1948.
“Lotte’s first long-seller was ‘Green Gum,’ released in 1957. This gum, which contained chlorophyll with deodorizing and antibacterial properties, quickly became popular as oral etiquette. Along with the ‘Cool Mint Gum’ released in 1960 with a blue package, ‘Green Gum’ sparked an unprecedented boom in slab gum. In 1983, ‘Black Black Gum,’ which combined spicy mint and caffeine, was released. It was a groundbreaking product that promoted functionality for combating sleepiness” (The aforementioned reporter).
From slab gum to pellet gum.
A turning point for Lotte, which had been leading the gum market, came in 1997. Xylitol, a sweetener that doesn’t produce acids that cause cavities, was approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (at the time) as a food additive.
The first companies to incorporate this sweetener into their products were Meiji and Lotte. Makoto Sato of the Japan Chewing Gum Association explains:
“Lotte’s ‘Xylitol’ and Meiji’s ‘Xylish’ were released as pellet guns almost at the same time. Before this, gum was mainly sugar-containing slab gum, which was considered bad for teeth. However, with the introduction of xylitol gum, gum became seen as a healthy food good for teeth. As a result, the trend in the gum market shifted from slab gum to sugarless pellet gum.”
From slab gum to pellet gum—this turning point was perfectly captured by Lotte, which now dominates the gum market with more than a 60% share as the undisputed leader.
On the other hand, the company that focused on pellet gum from the start and succeeded was Mondelez’s Japanese subsidiary, Mondelez Japan.
“In 1985, the world’s first stick-shaped individually wrapped pellet gum was released by Mondelez. This product was sold in Japan under the name ‘Clorets,’ but initially, it was overshadowed by the popularity of slab gum. However, in the late 1990s, the ‘Xylitol revolution’ sparked a pellet gum boom. Mondelez didn’t miss this opportunity and launched ‘Recaldent’ in 2000, which contained ‘CPP-ACP,’ a component that helps prevent the onset of cavities and enhances teeth’s resistance to acid. In 2002, they introduced xylitol as the sweetener for ‘Clorets.’ As a result, Mondelez firmly established its position as the second-largest gum manufacturer in Japan, after Lotte” (the aforementioned reporter).
Thus, the gum market reached its peak in 2004, but as mentioned earlier, it has been on a steady decline since. Economic journalist Naoyuki Takai explains:
“To turn the gum market around, a new long-seller with groundbreaking health benefits, equal to or greater than xylitol gum, needs to be developed. Modern people chew less, and some reports suggest that the number of chews per day has decreased to less than half compared to pre-war times. Tablets that claim to prevent bad breath cannot train the chewing muscles. It’s necessary to emphasize the appeal of gum as something that can improve health through chewing.”
In 2018, Ezaki Glico, which decided to discontinue the popular Kiss Mint, is now fighting for survival by emphasizing health benefits with POs-Ca. POs-Ca is a product developed by Ezaki Glico using phosphorylated oligosaccharide calcium, and the product promotes the remineralization and re-crystallization of early-stage cavities. In other words, this gum can treat early cavities with its power.
“Ezaki Glico also offers ‘POs-Ca F,’ which adds fluoride to the original ‘POs-Ca.’ The addition of fluoride helps calcium in saliva reach the teeth more easily, resulting in a higher remineralization effect. This product has even earned such high praise that it is sold in dental clinics” (the aforementioned reporter).
It seems that in the gum industry survival race, health-consciousness is an absolute requirement. However, there is an established company that stands out by continuing to produce products that deliberately go against the trends of the times—Marukawa Seika, based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
“Marukawa began manufacturing gum in 1947 and released the ‘Marble Gum’ in 1959, which is still sold as a flagship product today, almost simultaneously with Lotte’s Green Gum. Since then, the company has consistently made only bubble gum. Currently, ‘Marble Gum’ is exported to about 20 countries, particularly in Asia, and is extremely popular as a representative of ‘Made in Japan’ gum” (the aforementioned Matsubayashi).
Is it their ability to capture the changing times through development, or their unwavering pride in sticking to their original mission? The survival race in the gum industry is only growing more intense.
From “FRIDAY”, December 13-20, 2024, combined issue.
