“Sticking” With It

By: Mark Zapanta, Features Reporter

Ever since it was created in 1869 by a dentist named William Semple for jaw exercise, gum has been bought and used all over the world. According to the National Institute of Health, 374 billion pieces are sold worldwide each year. 

Over the years there have been a variety of flavors from watermelon and doublemint to some different choices. According to the Bubble Gum Blog, there has been a bacon flavor, Thanksgiving flavor, and even a cat hairball flavor.

As of now, in 2023, there are a variety of gum brands that are being bought today such as Doublemint, Trident, Extra, Orbit and 5 gum. Out of these Doublemint has sold the most packages as with about 100 million in sales back in 2019. 

At WJPS and other schools gum is popular in many classrooms, but favorites vary.

WJPS 11th grader, Arianna Distl said, “The best gum brand in my opinion is 5 Gum and my favorite flavor is spearmint. “

WJPS 11th grader, Mellany Gordon said, “Watermelon is my favorite flavor of gum, and I like the brand Extra. “

“Chewing gum stick” by Lusheeta is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.