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Perfetti Van Melle
Discontinued: 2015
Trident Layers built three flavor layers into one piece of gum. It launched in Canada in 2010, then reached the US in 2011 to compete with Orbit Mist. The original flavors paired Wild Strawberry with Tangy Orange and Green Apple with Golden Pineapple. Cool Mint & Melon Fresco followed in 2010. The ads featured “no one ever pays me in gum” — a phrase that stuck with high schoolers who chewed it and still generates TikTok nostalgia posts today.
Discontinued: 2014
Trident Vitality added vitamins and herbs to gum. It launched nationwide in February 2011 with three flavors: Vigorate (citrus-strawberry with vitamin C), Rejuve (mint with white tea), and Awaken (peppermint with ginseng). One piece of Vigorate gave you 10% of your daily vitamin C. The packaging even clicked when you opened it. Despite testing well for taste, sales stayed low. After three years, Trident discontinued the gum line.
Discontinued: 2012
Trident Sweet Kicks became the UK’s first chocolate-flavored gum on July 14, 2008. It paired a mint shell with liquid chocolate filling using Trident’s center-fill technology. The company marketed the gum to women who wanted indulgent moments without the calories. Sweet Kicks also appeared in Mexico but never caught on in either market. Four years later, it vanished from shelves.
Discontinued: 2015
Trident Xtra Care contained Recaldent, a milk-based calcium meant to rebuild tooth enamel. It launched in 2008 with peppermint and cool mint flavors. The company claimed it could actually fix teeth, not just clean them. But lawsuits followed. One man sued, saying the gum couldn’t rebuild teeth once decay started. Competitor Wrigley complained to the FTC about weak evidence. Legal troubles and consumer doubt killed the product.
Discontinued: 2015
Trident White started as Trident Advantage in the 1990s, one of the first gums with Recaldent for tooth repair plus whitening. It became Trident White in 2001, keeping both health and cosmetic promises. The pellet format set it apart from stick gum. But Recaldent faced the same legal challenges as Xtra Care. By 2015, Trident White dropped Recaldent entirely, ending the original formula that had defined it for twenty years.
On an interesting side note, Trident flew on NASA’s Gemini missions and has been standard on Space Shuttles since 1981. In 2023, Mondelez sold the brand to Perfetti Van Melle for $1.35 billion.
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