Mentos FAQ V6.0

[U.H. Jeff!!!]

Sorry this took so long, folks, but here it is. FYI--I would suggest
going to Chad's web site (address below) to view this in all it's glory.
The text version really doesn't do it justice:
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_ __ ___ ___ _ __ | |_ ___ ___ (tm)
| '_ ` _ \ / _ \| '_ \ | __| / _ \ / __|
| | | | | || __/| | | || |_ | (_) |\__ \
|_| |_| |_| \___||_| |_| \__| \___/ |___/

"I ate about 600 of them in a day, and I had
an extreme feeling of beauty. Those Mentos
really work!"
--Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters
(From Entertainment Weekly)

The Mentos FAQ V6.0 (11/25/96 update)
(c) 1994 Heath Doerr,
1995, 1996 The Gathering

Maintained by The Core Six Pack of "The Gathering":
Jeff (Way...@vm.temple.edu), Kevin (Kib...@vm.temple.edu)
Sean (Rada...@vm.temple.edu), Dave (Burg...@vm.temple.edu)
Brian (Mac...@vm.temple.edu), Stacey (temporarily offline)


e-mail auto server: mento...@fische.com
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/as/asuter/coolstuff/mentos.faq
html conversion by Chad Jones (Cjo...@ucla.edu)
http://www3.gse.ucla.edu/~cjones/mentos
Graphic Design by Dan Wood (dan...@pobox.com)

Index:

[*=Updated sections; ^=New sections]

Section 1: Commercial Synopsis*
1a: Commercial History, Origin, Explanation*
1b: Advertising data
1c: Jingle Lyrics
1d: The Car Movers: What *IS* that thing?^
Section 2: The Candies*
2a: Packaging*
2b: Ingredients*
2c: Manufacturial Data
2d: Imitations
Section 3: The Proper Way to Eat Mentos^
Section 4: FreshSpeak*
Section 5: Flavor Considerations*
Section 6: Mentos Culture*
6a: Pop Culture Mentos Sightings^
6a-1: FOOTOS: The Fresh Fighter!~
6b: Other Mentos Related Publications*
6c: Other Appearances of the FAQ
6d: Other Mentos-related Net Features*
Section 7: Mentos Home-Brew*
Section 8: Miscellaneous*
Section 9: Mentos Merchandise*
Section 10: Credits*
Section 11: History*

Section 1: Commercial Synopsis

1. The Broken Shoe (or 'High Heel Treachery')

A sassy young lady sashays past an open air French style cafe,
gaining the attention of a business man, and at the same time
interrupting his newspaper enjoyment. As she glides past, a
footwear malfunction occurs, leaving her sans one heel. She
reaches for her secret freshness inducer, Mentos. After
administering a piece of the magic elixir of nuttiness, she
breaks off the remaining spike, proclaiming to the world her
resourcefulness, and endless freshness. The man in the cafe
is undoubtedly impressed.

2. The Fake Photographer (or 'Those Crazy Kids I')

A young lad and his pals file through a mob of fanatics and
paparazzi, in order to get a closer look at their favorite star.
However, their adventure takes them over the legal boundaries
of said activity, which is then pointed out to them by the
authorities. After a bit of contemplation, and a hearty dose
of freshness ala Mentos, our hero cunningly disguises himself
as a member of the media, and breaks through the defenses
of the establishment.

3. The Airport Tram Ride (or 'Baggage Claim Blues')

A young woman finds herself in a bit of a pinch, as she discovers
that she has packed too much, and her bags are a most bothersome
burden. But she has no fear, it is a burden which is not
insurmountable, especially with Mentos on her side. She
unsheathes her glimmering blue tube of freshness, and holds it
out stretched like the mighty Excalibur, and although shortening
it by 1/14 this weapon has not lost its power. She consumes the
pellet of perkiness, and decrees that she and only she shall be
the one to ride the baggage cart, and all the other most unfresh
patrons of the airport shall bear the full weight of their baggage.
Her friends cheer, and dream of one day achieving a freshness such
as hers.

4. The Car Movers (or 'Overalls and Mentos')

Only an unfresh person would park his car in such a way as to make
his fellow motorist unable to go about her merry way, but that's
just what our heroine is faced with in this episode of the Mentos
saga. After an exchange of dirty looks, and communication of the
parkee's need for promptness, the young girl contemplates her
dilemma with the aid of a freshmaker. She has a revalation,
and summons what looks to be the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive
line from a construction site across the way. With surprisingly
little convincing, the barbarians lift her Fiat into the road, and
as she thanks them she glances in the way of her nemesis, only to
add an exclamation point to her freshness.

5. Evading Mom (or 'Psycho Mutant Killer Mom')

While enjoying a pleasant afternoon at the mall, a teen and his
companions suddenly spot one of their mothers. She raises her
umbrella, signifying that she has acquired her target, and means
to move in for the kill. Quickly searching his person, the teen
removes from his pocket the only thing to help him out of this
bind, Mentos. Thinking quickly, and now sporting fresh, clean
breath, he seizes a baseball cap from a nearby mannequin. The
perfect disguise! Placing it on his head in a diagonal pattern,
he strikes a pose and avoids his pursuer. She spots him again,
but this time only after entering the escalator. Knowing she has
been vanquished, mom shakes her weapon yet again, all the while
thinking, 'My son is sooo fresh!'

6. Through the Car (or 'The 3 Second Car Jacking')

There is little peace in the land of Mentos, as yet another teen
is faced with a distressing problem. While crossing the street, he
is separated from his friends, and nearly from his legs by an over
anxious motorist. Finding himself needing to traverse the street,
but without a normal means to do so, he again thanks his lucky
stars he remembered the freshmaker. His supply is reduced by one,
but his freshness is increased exponentially. Opening the rear
door, he climbs through the auto, while the driver looks over
his shoulder in astonishment. Upon exiting, the youth shrugs
at the motorist, Mentos in hand. Although a bit shaken, the
passenger acknowledges the care free youths with an approving
glance as he speeds away. "Wait till the wife hears of my brush
with freshness!"

7. The Backstage Crew (or 'Those Crazy Kids II')

In this episode, once again the establishment has prevented
some teens from achieving their goal. At the backstage door to
a rock concert, our friends are star struck and must find a way
backstage to meet their idols, demonstrate their freshness, and
enjoy each others minty clean breath. Musical paraphernalia is
being unloaded, and with the aid of a bandanna, one teen slips
through the line undetected. At the last moment, a security guard
spots him, but instead of pouncing on him and beating him to a
bloody mess with his nightstick, he lets him go showing an
expression that could only mean one thing, "Those crazy kids!".
Bravo!

8. The Lunch Date (or 'A New Part-Time Job')

A nice young couple sit at a French style open-air cafe' (much
like the one used in HIGH HEEL TREACHERY) The couple are *TRYING*
to order drinks, but to no avail. The evil waiter will not allow
it! He keeps ignoring them and helping out the no doubt less fresh
patrons. So, as any young man would do in this situation, he
pops a Mento in his mouth, no doubt to give him the extra
boost he needs to invent something to impress his date. So, he
stands up, with a fresh look at life, takes the tablecloth
from the still-empty table, and wraps it around his waist.
The perfect disguise! Now, he can pass for one of the waiters!
In his brilliant costume, he marches up to the counter and gets
he and his lovely date the refreshments they desire. On the way
back though, the waiter sees them. But just in time, our hero
pops a Mento into his mouth. The waiter shoots a look of
understanding at him and can only be thinking, "I wish I had the
power to be so fresh!"

9. The Wedding Woes (or 'Soccer Freshness')

Our 9th tale begins with our young hero, ignorant of life's
darker side, playing soccer on a beautiful, clear spring day.
(This would be football for the world outside the United States)
However, even the most beautiful days can turn ugly without much
effort. With one ill-aimed swoop of his foot, the young lad
sends the ball soaring over a finely crafted hedge and right into
a beautiful wedding! Our golden locked hero never falters,
however, and bravely attempts to regain his precious checkered
bauble. Alas, as he tries to pass a meticulously unfresh usher
our Crusader of Freshness is denied! His fighting spirit is
never shaken. Held like the scepter of power it truly is, the
young lad displays his trusty pack of Mentos. He pops a chalky
pill of power and universal freshness and the transformation
begins. Our hero is rejuvenated and is totally FULL OF LIFE!
He deftly eyes some conveniently placed flowers, snags them and
approaches the befuddled couple. After rescuing his ball,
he gives the bride a fresh-breathed peck, hands her the
instant-bouquet, and shakes the lucky groom's hand, leaving
them speechless (yet very FRESH). Walking past the dismayed and
flabbergasted usher, he gives the classic thumbs up smile,
proudly displaying his inspiration and source of life, the
Mentos. How Fresh it is!!


10. Fresh Paint (or 'The Benchmark Of Freshness')

The latest adventure in Fresh and Full of Life Land starts when
our protagonist, in mental preparation for an obviously important
business meeting of some type, decided to take a restful break in
the park on a beautiful sunny day. Lo and behold, he finds a
fine looking park bench and decides to have a seat on the wooden
couch. As he's settling in, we see a painter, who turned his
back from the bench only momentarily, trying to warn our out-of-
luck hero about the wet paint he just coated the bench with.
Too late! It's ruined! Bright white stripes appear all the way
down the back of the material. Most people would have gone home.
Some would have cried. But not our tragic hero. He has Mentos!
Popping a chalky white pill of pure perfection, he's able to come
up with a solution that no mere mortal (without the help of the
Freshmaker) would have the guts to try. He lays back on the
bench and begins to roll around. Pinstripes! His suit,
and business-like image, are saved! Rising from the bench he
brandishes the back of Mentos to the painter as if he were a
missionary wielding a cross. And the painter can only smile and
nod, as if to say "I'm converted."

11. Untitled

That's right! The eleventh Mentos commercial is on the
way, according to a very good source (The Mentos Mole).
It was filmed around the same time as 'Fresh Paint,' in
an shut-down department store. You'll just have to wait
to see the eleventh episode of Freshness, airing soon
on your local television stations.

Commercial History, Origin, and Explanation:

First an explanation;

Jan Setje-Eilers (j...@expert.cc.purdue.edu), tells us that the
characters of 'Psycho Mutant Killer Mom' are actors from a sitcom
taking place in Northern Germany. The mother, (incidentally,
whose last name is 'Teufel', which means Devil in German) is a
crazy character in the show, and one who would be avoided normally.
Anyone who has seen the sitcom, (i.e. Germans) would understand
this, but the American audience is understandably confused.

So one would normally conclude that these spots were all shot in
Germany, thus clearing up our national origin questions, right?
Wrong.

According to Chad Jones (cjo...@gse.ucla.edu), 'High Heel Treachery'
was filmed on the Third Street Promenade, a shopping district in
Santa Monica, CA. Also, 'The 3 Second Car Jacking' was filmed in
downtown Los Angeles. Joseph Hernandez (jth...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU)
says one of the buildings in the background is the First Interstate
Bank Building.

Chick Peterson (chick.p...@Dts.Harris.COM) and Steve
Abatangle (sa...@enterprise.Dts.Harris.COM) both know the
"Sassy young lady" from 'High Heel Treachery'. Yes, she _IS_
American. Colleen Morris (who also worked in a few early
Michael Bolton videos) is a former Miss Marin (a county in
California, just north of San Francisco).

But wait! There's more! Daniel Spaulding (lam...@kaiwan.com)
works in commercial production in Los Angeles, and he met the
actor who played the Doorman in 'The Fake Photographer"!
His name is Gene, and he said that the spot was shot about
four years ago at the Universal Hilton in Universal City.
It was a two day evening shoot, from 6PM till 6AM. Gene also
confirmed that the director and crew were American.

And if that's not good enough for you:

Andy Brooks (ace...@netcom.com) argues that some spots had to
have been shot in California, or at least in the U.S. No where
else in the world can you find the 'Walk/Don't Walk' blinking
sign that is depicted in the '3 second Car Jacking'. Also,
Germany doesn't have the yellow center lines running down the
middle of the streets (over there they are white). Finally, lights
don't go from green directly to red. They are initially green,
then are followed briefly by yellow, and then red. It certainly
doesn't seem like there is any blatant insert editing or post
production work involved here, all the shots look as if they took
place on the same street corner.

Matt Dubno (boo...@198.4.75.47) says that the license plate
on the car in "The Car Movers" is Dutch, therefore, the commercial
was probably filmed in Holland.

Lonnie Whittington (lon...@tracer.com) reports that 'Fresh Paint'
was filmed near the Northwest corner of Central and Thomas in
Phoenix, Arizona. The filming took place February 14-15, 1996.

Commercial 11 (Untitled) was also filmed around the same time
also in Phoenix, Arizona. The set was a department store that
is no longer in use, which was dressed up to look as if it was
still open for the Mentos commercial. (Thanks to our Mentos
Mole for letting us in on this bit of information)

So we can honestly conclude that the Mentos commercials are without
a doubt, multinational. This was finally confirmed when we received
some most interesting details, straight from Van Melle...

Thom Forbes' (tfo...@panix.com) inquiries found that as it turns
out, there is no advertising agency on record for Van Melle according
to Tricia Gold, the associate brand manager for Mentos in Erlanger,
KY. The U.S. company subsidiary of the Dutch company Van Melle,
consults with an agency named Pahnke & Partners, which is based
in Hamburg, Germany. Van Melle uses New York based Media
Buying Services International to buy airtime in the United States.
"We try to have an American focus but it's a global campaign,"
according to Ms. Gold. "As your correspondents have noted, several
of the spots were filmed in the U.S. Two or three new commercials
will be shot in January 1995", she said.

Secondly, the figures in the Ad Age story referred to by Bruce
Kasrel are correct, according to Ms. Gold.

"In a recent article in 'Advertising Age', Bruce Kasrel
(bka...@us.oracle.com) read that Mentos advertising spending
rose 34% from last year, to 11.9 million. Sales have increased
from $20 million in 1991 to about $40 million today. We could
be in for some more Mentos enlightened teens solving the most
perplexing of situations in the near future."

The story ran in the Oct. 3, 1994 issue. In the same issue,
Ad Age asked readers to "come up with the next really stupid
but wonderfully kitschy Mentos commercial" for its weekly T.N.T.
(The Next Trend) contest. Two winners were announced in the Oct. 31
issue. First place went to a Los Angeles advertising copywriter who,
in short, has a guy tossing some Mentos to clear out a men's room
line at a concert.

SPIN Magazine also confirmed the suspicion that U.S. territory
was being depicted with Mentos-infected youths. Aaron Naparstek
(Nap...@aol.com) wrote:

"I had the good fortune to speak with the guy at Van Melle
in Kentucky who designed those Mentos commercials. I'll have to go through
my old research files a little later to give you more information on him.
If I remember correctly, he told me that the commercials were filmed in
California and Florida. They were not at all conceived for a European
audience and he found it amusing that everyone thought that. I also seem to
remember that he was from New Zealand but had lived in the U.S. for a long
time."

Also, it was previously believed that the Mentos commercials were
aired in English throughout the world. That is true, except for
Russia! Steven Grimm (Kor...@hyperion.com) informed me that
while staying there, he was surprised to hear the relentlessly
upbeat Mentos theme music pouring out from the TV in the room
across the hall. Listening closely, he determined that the
lyrics were all in Russian. He was, to his utter dismay, too
slow to reach the TV in time to see which ad it was.

Isra Wongsarnpigoon (i...@umich.edu) notes that while in Thailand,
he's pretty sure he remembers seeing Ad #6, "The 3-Second Car
Jacking". The undeniably fresh anthem was, indeed, in Thai.
He mentions that, although his Thai isn't quite up to speed
to understand song lyrics, he remembers the Thai word that
basically means 'Fresh' roaming through the song.

One Last Thing:
I (MaintainerJeff) had the good fortune of taking a video class
in the Spring 1995 semester here at Temple. During one class, we
watched demo tapes from foreign Ad companies. One in particular
was from Hong Kong, and they had (you guessed it) a MENTOS
commercial. It was nothing like the ones we've seen. It was
very high-tech and expensive looking. Featuring one kid looking at
a pack of what seemed to be orange Mentos through a magnifying
glass...no doubt trying to find out what makes him so Fresh
and Full of Life after eating one. The packs were small,
maybe holding 5 or so candies. Another commercial featured
a man brushing his teeth while little balls of Mentos were
flying around as he tried to bite them. Unfortunately, there
was no audio on the tape, so I can't tell you if they played
our new favorite song or not.


MENTOS HISTORY:

While we're still not sure when Mentos came over to the
States, the Mentos Mole discovered (through some Van Melle
writings) that Mentos were manufactured in Holland beginning
in the 1950's. But, when did they come to America?

Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, drummer with "Weird Al" Yankovic, recalls
enjoying Mentos back in the early 70's. He tells us that before
they were widely distributed, he actually had to put effort into
finding them, usually at an import-type confectionary store.

He also mentions that, as a big fan of the Dr. Demento show, he
used to do some creative cut'n'paste, making the famous block
lettering say "DEmentos".

In about 1988, Hannah Meehan (hme...@gteens.com) recalls
*RADIO* ads for Mentos! She remembers them running on
San Francisco stations. The ads featured a medieval
princess being held hostage by a talking dragon. The dragon
is looking forward to eating the knight who will undoubtedly
try to rescue her, because knights are crunchy on the outside
and chewy on the inside. When the knight in shining armor
arrives, he informs the dragon that Mentos not only have the
same qualities, they are much easier to chew than armor,
and are less likely to irritate the locals. The dragon eats
a Mentos, the princess is rescued and they all live happily
ever after.

Hannah mentions that, although the knight was undeniably fresh,
there was no mention of the word "Freshmaker".

Just Schimmelpenninck (ju...@luna.nl) says that his mother
has been carrying rolls of DropMentos in her purse for
approximately 25 years in the Netherlands.


Jingle lyrics:

'Doo doo doo doo, doo-doo, do-Wah!'

It doesn't matter what comes, fresh goes better in life,
and Mentos is fresh and full of life.

Nothing gets to you, staying fresh staying cool,
with Mentos, fresh and full of life.

Fresh goes better, Mentos freshness, fresh goes better
with Mentos, fresh and full of life!

Mentos, the freshmaker!
--By John Groves
(Thanks to a...@panix.com for informing us
on the composer of our new favorite song!)

"The Car Movers": What *IS* that thing?

Several conflicting reports have flooded The Gathering as
of late regarding the Fiat/Renault/Morris Mini/Citroen
car in commercial #4. All that is known for certain at
this point is that it was, indeed, a TINY RED CAR.

We'll start off with one other fact about this car:
The license plate on the car reads "DH-L 64 12".
Apparently, it's a Dutch plate (thanks to Matt Dubno for
pointing this out: boo...@198.4.75.47)

Chris Charman (cha...@inference.com) took issue
with the report of the car being a "Morris Mini".
Chris said that the "absurd little car" is actually
a Citroen 2V. He has a picture of some friends
standing in front of one from a vacation. Chris reports
that the same model car was also used in the movie "Gotcha!"

Travis W. Fisher (tfis...@g1.umbc.edu) confirmed Chris'
facts with his french teacher (whose parents owned such
a car).

Matt Hansen (han...@insead.fr), who lives in France, wants
us to know that the car is a Morris Mini, and not a Citroen.
The car in the commercial, he says, does not have any of
the usual Citroen Markings.

To make matters just a tad bit worse....The Turtle
(tur...@fred.net) confirms the original report about the
car being a Fiat. He says the Fiat is from the either the
late 50's or early 60's, "rendering all controversy vis-a-vis
the Citroen/Morris Mini Unfresh. The Fiat is smaller than
either."

Stay tuned...

Section 2: The Candies

The candies themselves come in five varieties; 'Mint', 'Mixed
Fruit', 'Cinnamon', 'Strawberry', and 'Spearmint'. Taste and
color are drastically different between them, but in every other
way they are quite similar.

The shape of a Mentos candy is disklike, with an ellipsical
bulge in the middle. (It has been suggested that they are
'lenticular' meaning 'lentil-shaped'.) They measure 3/4"
in diameter, and at their largest point, 6/16" tall.

Net weight is reported as 1.3 OZ/37.5 g, but this was
impossible to confirm at the time of this writing.

Coloring of the Mint candies is a chalky light hue, that extends
throughout the entire candy. The fruit variety contains three
colors, purple (grape), yellow (lemon), and orange (orange).
Cinnamon and Strawberry have a reddish/pinkish hue, Cinnamon
being the darker of the two. Spearmint Mentos have a light
greenish coloration, and like all Mentos, possess a chalk-like
consistency.

The Mint flavor variety unsurprisingly taste like peppermint, and
could be considered to possess a breath freshening function as well
as a cool, menthol-like aftertaste. Mixed Fruit have none of these
properties, but are instead quite sweet. The differences between
the flavors contained in a mixed fruit package are small. Color
seems to be the only real distinguishable quality. Strawberry
are also sweet, but contain a light, and unmistakable strawberry
flavor. Cinnamon do indeed taste like cinnamon, possessing a
semi-cinnamon burn feeling often found in strong cinnamon gum.
Spearmint are closely related to Mint, and are lucky enough to
serve as a freshmaker as well.

The Apple Mentos, which arrived in our mailbox from Australia
are yellowish/green in color and taste like apple juice.
Very impressive, I must say. We couldn't get enough of them!

The Grape Mentos (which arrived from Japan) did, indeed have
a unique undercurrent of flavor. The Grape Mentos were white
with a slight purple hue (nothing major). They started off
with a vague Grape flavor and then exploded into a virtual
vineyard! (Reminds us of St. Joseph's Children's Aspirin)
While Grape is available in the Mixed Fruit packages in
America (and elsewhere) this Grape is a thousand times
Grapier.

Peach Mentos (also from Japan) were also white in color
(with a simple peach-ish tint) and were "pleasantly peachy".
Like the grape, the flavor starts off weak and before you
know it, it's like eating a real peach--packed full of flavor!

The Grapefruit Mentos (Japan again) were, indeed, Grapefruit.
Yellow in color, this particular flavor was very citrus-like.
If you're not a citrus fan, don't try them. But, eat up
if you like the breakfast melon!

Checking in from France is Chlorophylle flavored Mentos.
Apparently, Chlorophylle is french for "Spearmint" because
these were not entirely unlike our version of the other
white mint. Just a tad bit Mintier.

One of the most interesting flavors (so far) has been 'Mint-
Licorice Mentos', also known in Europe as 'Drop Lakrids'. These
have the same texture and color as Mint, but when you chow down,
hold on! At first, the taste is of light mint, and you might
suspect Freshness trickery. However, then the taste of licorice
pops up and you feel O.K. And then, just as the unsuspecting
taster is content with the current state of Freshness, it changes
again! A sudden overpowering licorice flavor consumes you!
Needless to say, this flavor gives you quite a ride.
A Special Note: If you don't like black licorice A LOT, don't
try these. They are only for the boldest and
Freshest to consume.

Mentos' texture is not uniform. The candies have a thin crunchy
shell and when chewed, disintegrate into a gum like consistency.
If appropriate, they then release their breath freshening
characteristics.

Packaging:
In the United States:

Mentos candies come in cylinder shaped 'rolls', with 14 included
in each roll. The label consists of 'mentos' written in block
letters, covering approximately 2/3 of the roll lengthwise.
Next to this logo is the flavor identification, (i.e. 'mint' or
'mixed fruit') although flavor identification can be more readily
obtained from the background coloring of the label. Mint has a
misty bluish white photograph of many Mentos scattered about,
while mixed fruit has a more colorful representation of the same
shapes, including purple, orange, and yellow disks. Cinnamon
wrappers are similar, but are colored in a deep blood red.
Strawberry wrappers are a lighter, almost orangey red. Spearmint
follows Mint's lead with a clouded hue, this time more green than
blue.

It is important to note that the colors displayed on the package
are actually much more vibrant and deep than that of the actual
product. Do not be misled, all Mentos have a very light hue to
them, no matter what the flavor.

A CHANGE IN THE WRAPPER?

It has come to our attention that the flavor designations on the
right side of the Mentos roll have shrunk! The former Mint and
Mixed Fruit designations have become smaller this year for some
reason. This is yet another mystery left for us to solve...

As it turns out, Eric Johnson (pimp...@wam.umd.edu) discovered
that Mentos can also be found in 4 packs, which are sold for the
bargain price of 99 cents at the College Park CVS pharmacy near
the University of Maryland. (That works out to 24.75 cents a tube!)

Also, several alert folks say they found buckets of "Mini Mentos"
in stores such as "Office Depot". But these sightings are,
as of yet, unconfirmed.

In Canada:
The Mentos are almost exactly the same as the rolls in America,
except the flavor designations are in french as well as English.

In Arab Countries:
Mentos are typically sold in smaller rolls of 11 candies. These
packages weigh 30g or 1.06 OZ, although they do have "Jumbo Size"
rolls, which contain the standard complement of 14. The labels
are in Arabic and English, including the "Mentos" block lettering!
This is the first we've noted the Mentos logo in a different
language (and alphabet)!
(Thanks to Isaac Zalpeter
(Zba...@pobox.com) for this info!)

In Australia:
The packaging of the Apple Mentos from Australia had all the
same qualities mentioned in the US section, above.
This time, though, the package was light green in color.

In The Netherlands:
The package of Mint-Licorice Mentos is much like the common
Mint-Flavor we all know and love. The powdery blue Mentos
lay in the background with the Mentos block lettering in front.
However, where the usual flavor is written at the end of the
roll, on this package it has a black square around it, which
extends about half way around the roll. The word 'Drop' is
written here with red surrounding the letters. Written atop
the word "Mentos", in three different languages, is the
product description:
1) Chewy mint-licorice
2) Drop-mint dragees (which, we are told is Dutch for
Licorice-Mint Pellets')
3) Pebermynte-pastiller med lakridssmag ('Peppermint
candies with licorice flavoring' as translated
by Laurie Zimmerman (zi...@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu)

The ingredients are listed in three languages as well. Also, the
Van Melle logo has been reduced a little and moved to the left of
the bar-code, and a new logo appears: A circle in which black
and white arrows intertwine in a Ying-Yang type of configuration.
Apparently, this is an environmental symbol...telling us that
Mentos are Earth-friendly.

@lfred (ta...@xs4all.nl) discovered "Mini Mentos" in
The Netherlands as well. The bag contains 18 mini-rolls of
Mentos--approximately 1/3 the length of a normal 14-freshmaker
roll. Each roll contains five (5) Mini-Mentos, which are
about 2/3 the size of a regular Mento, and the flavor-name
above the Mentos block letters refers to them as "Chewy
your-fruit-here Drops"

In Japan:

Each roll of Japanese Mentos contains only 11 Freshmakers. The
five rolls of fruity flavors we came across each had dark
foil protecting the candies. Green Apple, for example, had
a green wrapper, and dark green foil. Peach had pink,
Grape/Purple, Strawberry/Red, and Grapefruit/Yellow.
The flavor distinctions were in English, including above the
block letters "Chewy Green Apple". The ingredients were,
as expected, in Japanese.

According to George Scala (XZL...@prodigy.com) he found
mini-Mentos in Japan. The bag proclaimed "It's A Small
Mentos World!"

In France:

The Chlorophylle Mentos came in a standard 14-Mento tube.
The coloring on the wrapper was exactly that of American
Spearmint (no surprise there, since they taste almost exactly
the same). They were branded with the titles "Bonbons" and
"Dragees" above the big blue letters.

In Germany:

The four-pack of Mint Mentos from Germany are made exactly
like the 4-packs in America, except the ingredients on the
back are in six different languages. Also, an additional
design appears on the front...a hand with the phrase "Fresh
Goes Better" appears. Lucky Germans!

In Taiwan:

The Mentos block lettering is in Chinese and English! (And it
looks beauteous) The rolls contain 11 Mentos and the Flavor
Designation. Otherwise, they look the same.

Helen Kittler writes:

I used to live in Toronto, Canada, and there in a German Deli-type store
called Kellens I saw a big clear plastic bucket of mini-Mentos for sale.
They were really small, less than 2 inches long, and looked like the kind
of thing you would give away at Halloween. I believe they were charging
10 cents a roll. The flavours involved were the ever-present regular
mint, strawberry and mixed fruit.

Ingredients:

Mint: sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil,
gelatine, dextrin, natural flavor, corn starch,
gum arabic.

Mixed Fruit: sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil,
gelatine, dextrin, natural and artificial flavor,
gum arabic, coloring.

Strawberry: sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil,
citric acid, gelatine, dextrin, corn starch,
artificial flavor, gum arabic, coloring.

Cinnamon: sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil,
gelatine, dextrin, corn starch, cinnamon, natural
and artificial flavors, salt, gum arabic,
artificial colors (yellow 5, red 3, blue 2).

Spearmint: sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil,
gelatine, dextrin, natural flavors, corn starch,
gum arabic, artificial color (blue 2).

Apple: (from Australia) sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated
vegetable oil, food acid (citric acid), apple powder,
starch, gelatine, dextrin, gelling agent (gum arabic),
flavour, colours (E101, E140), thickener (dextrin),
vegetable gum (acacia gum).

Licorice: (from The Netherlands) sugar, glucose syrup, vegetable
oil, licorice-extract, ammonium-chloride, starch,
gelatine, dextrin, gelling agent (gum arabic),
flavourings.

Tropical Fruit: (from Israel) sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated
vegetable oil, citric acid, starch, beef gelatine,
dextrin, gum arabic, flavours, colours (E101,
E160e, E162) <Thanks to Isaac Salpeter
(zba...@pobox.com) for translating these
ingredients from the French!>

Chlorophylle: (from France) sugar, glucose syrup, hydrogenated
vegetable oil, starch, gelatine, dextrin, gelling
agent (gum arabic), natural flavourings,
colour (E132).


*****An Official Correction/Apology*****

New! Crow flavored Mentos! And we're eating plenty of them!
It seems that despite long-time assurances that Mentos were a pure,
wholesome product carnivores and vegetarians alike could enjoy,
It seems we were sadly mistaken. It turns out that less than 1%
of the Mentos recipe is processed from a byproduct of animal fat.

Had we known this, we would *NEVER* have dreamed of saying
otherwise. Van Melle is yet to make a Mentos product for the
strictest of vegetarians. We, the Core Six Pack, as Maintainers
of the FAQ, give our sincerest and most heart-felt apology for
this grave error.

However, as in usual fashion, we refuse to take the blame.
Naturally, having been used as a tool to deceive those who are
FAFOL, we needed to find the responsible party. It turned out
to be industrial espionage and sabotage. Yep, you guessed it-
Lance Chews started the rumor and continued to back it until we
erringly placed it in the FAQ.

Revenge? No, we don't believe in revenge. But we will have you
know that Lance wears a coat made from Dalmatian puppies and
routinely beats baby seals to death.

(Ok, those last 2 paragraphs aren't true, but we're really
sorry!)
-- The Core Six-Pack


For Nutritional Information, you can write to:

Nutritional Data
P.O. Box 18190
Erlanger, KY 41018

Once again, thanks to Mr. Jones, this is what you'll receive:
<begin included file>

November 15, 1994

Mr. Chad Jones
[street address]
Culver City, CA 90230

Dear Mr. Jones:

Following is the nutritional information for Mentos you
requested:

Serving Size 1 piece (3 grams)
Calories 10
Total Fat* 0 grams
Total Carbohydrates 3 grams
Total Sugar 2 grams
Protein 0 grams
Sodium 0 mg

*Because most of our customers do not eat just one piece from the roll of
Mentos, we would like you to be aware that 100 grams of Mentos,
approximately 3 rolls, contain 2 grams of fat.

I hope this information is helpful and Mentos may remain one of your
favorite candy options.

Thank you for your interest in our product--it is most appreciated.

Sincerely,

Andrea Barth
Quality Assurance Supervisor


Van Melle USA / One Van Melle Lane / P.O. Box 18190 / Erlanger,
Kentucky 41018-0190
606-283-1234 / FAX 606-283-1316 / TWX 8105428541
printed on recycled paper

"I expected to get a cheap xerox copy of a form letter. Instead, I got a
nicely-laserprinted, personalized letter on Van Melle's bond stationery."
-Chad Jones

Manufacturer:

Mentos were invented by a Dr. Van Mento who was a Dutch doctor
and a part time confectioner. [Ok, Ok, maybe not.]

Mentos are made by Van Melle, Inc. and manufactured for
Van Melle by:

Van Melle
Breda / Holland

Importers:

Australia
Stuart Alexander & Co. Pty. Ltd.
62 Rosebery Ave.
Rosebery, N.S.W. 2018 Australia

Canada
J.K. Overwheel ltd.
Toronto, Canada

Hong Kong
Inchcape JDH Limited
15th FLR
JDH Centre
2 ON Ping Street
Shatin, N.T. HK

Malaysia
Socma Trading
(M)SDN BHD
Lot 2537 Parit Abdul Rahman
Mukim Benut
82200 Pontian, Johor Malaysia

Singapore
Sole Agent: Hup Seng (S)
PTE. LTD.
52 Arab Street
Singapore 0719


Van Melle's corporate headquarters:

Van Melle, Inc.
One Van Melle Lane
Erlanger, KY 41018-0190

Mentos Imitations:

The Anti-Mento (or the "Fake-Me-Out-Mento" as Zann & Mitch
<Ste...@vm.temple.edu & Mda...@vm.temple.edu> refer to them
as) is made by Lance Candies. They are called 'Mint Chews',
'Fruit Chews', 'Cinnamon Chews', etc. They are sold in rolls
of eleven candies of approximately the same size, shape, and
weight as the true confection. Mint Chews, made in Holland for
Lance Inc., list exactly the same ingredients as Mint Mentos.

For their nutritional information, you can write to:

Nutritional Data
P.O. Box 32368
Charlotte, NC 28232

But they are neither sufficiently fresh, nor full of life,
to make such an inquiry worthwhile.


SECTION 3: The Proper Way to Eat Mentos:

Blah (mile...@nova.edmonds.wednet.edu) suggested that we include rules
eating Mentos. Blah had the following to offer:

1. Only eat the original Peppermint Mentos. You may occasionally
find a Strawberry Mento mixed in by mistake, but still colored
chalky white.

2. Never (ever!) tear the package of Mentos, or they will revolt,
spill out into your bag, or get lost in your car's glove
compartment. Over time, they will eventually attract dust
bunnies that are trying to be Fresh and Full of Life. The
wayward Mento will eventually become rock hard and when you
try to eat it will hurt you.

3. Mentos must be "born", squeezed out of the wrapper and gently
placed in the palm of the hand. The only exception is the last
Mento in the roll, which may be squeezed out of the opposite end.

Section 4: FreshSpeak

Dedicated to the language of the future:

1) Cementos (noun) What Mentos transmogrify into after 3 weeks
in your glove compartment (C. Shamis
csh...@erinet.com)

2) FAFOL (acronym) Fresh And Full Of Life

3) Fermentos (verb) Atempting to be FAFOL while intoxicated.
(C. Shamis)

4) Lamentos (adj) State of mind when realizing you have mistakenly
left your Mentos in your *other* coat pants
(C. Shamis)

5) LYLAF (acronym) Love Ya Like A Freshmaker (Katherine Ewald
<ber...@anderson.edu>)

6) Mentocide (verb) The act of eating the last Mento from
pack, effectively killing it off.
(Alex Gordon <a...@mcs.com>)--from the Internet
Underground article Are We Not Mentos--see section blah)

7) Mentodramatics (noun) The overwrought emotion one feels
when wronged, leading to the desire to down a
Mento and correct the situation.
(Alex Gordon--from the IU article)

8) Mentoite (proper noun) A person who achieves Freshness on a
regular basis.
(Alex Gordon--but NOT from the IU article)

9) Mentonopoly (verb) The act of buying up all the Mentos from
a single store. (Alex Gordon from the IU article)

10) Mentopause (noun) The amount of time between eating Mentos.
(Alex Gordon from the article)

11) Mentophile (proper noun) A person (like yourself) who understands
the many entertainment aspects of Mentos, and their
all-important contribution to Western Civilization as
we know it.


12) Mentorabilia (noun) The unexpected Mentos you find in your
pocket that have fallen out of the pack.

13) Mentorandum (verb) The act of alerting other people that a
Mentos commercial is on.

14) Mentos-a-trois (verb) Eating three Mentos at once.

15) Mentosis (noun) The state of being mesmerized by someone who has
just eaten a Mento. (Richard (PTD...@delphi.com)

16) Mentosophy (proper noun) The Study of Mentos.

17) Mentostopheles (proper noun) A person who uses Mentos for
evil means rather than Freshness)

18) Mentowledgement (noun) The knowing look an adult gives a teen
who does something crazy under the influence of
Mentos.

19) Momentos (noun) A roll of Mentos obtained in another country as
a souvenir.
(by Richard)

20) YIF (acronym) Yours In Freshness (by Franland)


Section 4A: Pluralization:

Well, the votes are in! 77.27% of you said that Mento
was the singular form of Mentos. Thanks to all who voted,
but now...it's time for the bad news.

According to official Van Melle literature we were lucky enough
to come across, "One piece of candy is equal to one Mentos."

This threw the Gathering into a tizzy, and MaintainerKev came
up with a theory:

Years ago, when the Xerox corporation was starting to manufacture
photocopiers, their name became synonymous with photocopies.
Still today, even though there are dozens of brands of copiers
on the market, you hear people saying, "Hey, I need this
Xeroxed" or "Hey, could you Xerox this" or "Hey, I Xeroxed
my aunt, wanna see?" The Xerox company name has become a
verb in the English Language, though Mr. Xerox never intended it
to happen this way.

We see this happening with Mentos in the 90's. Due to the
strange ways the English language works, Mento simply
sounds more aesthetically pleasing than one Mentos.
So, while it may be "correct" to say "A Mentos," it certainly
isn't wrong to refer to one confection as a "Mento".

Section 5: Flavor considerations:

As you've noted, this section has grown quite a bit. More
and more flavors are being discovered almost daily, both
at home and abroad. The Mentos Mystery continues. Here's
what we have, so far....

Andrea (ap...@cas.org) found 'Tropical Mentos' while vacationing
in Jamaica. The candies come in orange, lime green, and
lavender varieties, and taste like orange, guava, and something
indiscernible, she writes. The packaging, like mixed fruit,
has a picture of the various colors found inside. One other
interesting note: The ingredients were printed in Greek as
well as English.

Tara Prigge (ta...@bwc.org) gave us some more details on the
Tropical Mentos, as she finds them in Haifa, Israel. They're
labeled in French & Hebrew and are Kosher for Gelatine
consumers as decreed by the Chief Rabinnate of Israel. ("Kascher
sous l'autorisation du rabbinat d'Israel pour consommeteurs
de gelatine.") She tells us that they include Orange, Mango,
and Guava, but she hasn't spotted the green in a while.

Isaac Salpeter (zba...@pobox.com) sent us even more info
on Mid-Eastern flavors. According to him, Strawberry
Mentos are as common as Mint (!), and appears to be the
most popular among the locals. In Israel, he too found the
Tropical Mentos and agrees that orange, yellow, green, and
lavender are the colors depicted on the package. Corresponding
to the colors, the flavors are, Orange, Grapefruit, Guava,
and Passionfruit. He noted that Orange and Grapefruit are
most commonly found in these packages, followed by Passionfruit
and then Guava, which is extremely rare. Recently, he hasn't
been able to find Guava at all, but it still appears on the
package.

Isaac was lucky enough to find Orange in Amman, Jordan.
As you surely know, Orange is available here in the states,
as part of the Mixed Fruit variety and in Israel in the Tropical
Fruit rolls. This is the first time we've noticed them being
marketed separately.

Richard P Meres (rme...@selway.umt.edu) was disappointed to learn
that Japan had only three flavors, these consisting of 1) Mint
which came in a light green (almost white) wrapper, 2) Green
Apple housed in a green wrapper (Richard consumed almost a pack
a day of this variety) and 3) Grapefruit sporting a yellow
wrapper (an acquired taste, he writes.)

Richard was later proven wrong by Erik Hinzpeter
(hinz...@badlands.NoDak.edu) who had the pleasure of hosting
a Japanese exchange student. The student, who called Mentos
'Japan Candy', brought with him a roll of Grape. Erik
described them as being smaller than a normal Mentos roll,
possibly containing 11 or 12 candies, and the foil was
purple. Obviously, the ingredients were printed in Japanese,
which would be hard to reproduce here.

However, Dave Leheny (s00...@ipe.tsukuba.ac.jp) discovered
even more flavors in the land of the Rising Sun. Without
including the aforementioned taste treats, he located
Peach and Sour Apple. (Possibly, the Sour Apple and Green
Apple are one in the same, but I'm willing to include both
until someone tells me different.)

Isra Wongsarnpigoon (i...@umich.edu) also found Peach while
staying in Japan during the summer of 1995. Also available
were the Grape, Apple, and Grapefruit Mentos.

I think that Hudi (hu...@uclink2.berkeley.edu) said it best
when describing Japan as being "in a constant state of turbulent
Mentos revolution."

According to Jeffrey F. Brent (lo...@acpub.duke.edu), Mentos
also come in Licorice or 'Lakrits' flavor. Some Dutch friends
apparently possessed these beauties, and they have been spotted
in the U.S. by MLS (msc...@pobox.upenn.edu). They had a
white shell, and a black center. A black wrapper shielded
them from the elements, and they [you guessed it] tasted
like Licorice.

Eric Sklar (esk...@astro.ocis.temple.edu) notes that while in
Europe (he thinks it was Prague) he discovered Eucalyptus
flavored mentos. They were green and tasted kind of minty
but had a very unique aftertaste. He also found the Grape
flavor, as well as the Licorice.

Scott Whitmore (whit...@utw.com) says that while living
in the Czech Republic (In western Bohemia, in a town called
Marianske Lazne) he found Grapefruit Mentos. He says they
are delicious, and are the only Mentos he'll eat now, even
though they are difficult to find (even in the Czech Republic).

Tom Mathies (mat...@bucknell.edu) found Apple Mentos while
visiting Austrailia! The candies are a pale apple green color.
They are labeled as being "Chewy apple flavoured bonbons" in
both English and Hungarian. ("Alma izu cukorka" which means
according to Grant Holly <rheg...@midway.uchicago.edu>
"Apple Flavored Candy.") They cost Tom about 65 cents (US).
Special thanks to Tom for bringing back a few packs to the
States for The Gathering.

Speaking of Apple Mentos, John Zmaczynski (j...@mcs.com)
seems to recall finding Apple Mentos in (of all places)
the Big Apple. He says he found them in the lobby of a
New York City hotel, probably about 10 years ago.

In San Francisco, back in the late 80's, Hannah Meehan
(hme...@gteens.com) recalls eating "Chocolate Mentos"!
She notes that they were "truly disgusting" and that is
the likely reason why they were discontinued.

Karen Ann (kam...@acs.bu.edu) also recalls trying Chocolate
Mentos in 1989. She worked in a general store which sold
Mentos, and, consequently received a sample box of the
Chewy Chocolates. "They were brown and chalky with no
mint-y-ness to them whatsoever" she says. Upon further
reflections, Karen Ann says, "The texture of Mentos, so
appealing in a mint or fruit flavor, is not to be tolerated
in chocolate flavor."

Steph Mandell (st...@newton.xs4all.nl) responded to our holler
for the elusive Licorice Mentos. Dutch economic skills place
each individual Mento at $.02 US! Interestingly enough, they
came in a three-roll-pack. So, you can go and buy a three pack
of Freshness for a dollar! However, we got the Mint-Licorice
Drop Mentos. Upon our musings why the rest of the world doesn't
get this variety of fresh, Steph writes: "The Dutch don't think
that anyone but them likes black licorice." Well, we can only
hope that not only "Drop Lakrids", but more flavors will come
out of the Netherlands.

In Holland, according to Just Schimmelpenninck (ju...@luna.nl)
Drop Mentos are as popular as the Mint Mentos. He warns:
"People who didn't learn to appreciate drop as a child will
never like the stuff."

A. Michael Shashoua (Shas...@gate.net) discovered another
exciting new Mentos flavor in Israel: Strong Mint Mentos.
He compares them to the "curiously strong" Altoids mints
and says that they are better than Mint and Spearmint.

In Southeast Asia, Lee S. Weinberg (lwei...@ix.netcom.com)
was disappointed when he found only the classic Mint flavor
in Jakarta. Later, in Singapore, was lucky enough to find
Apple flavored Mentos.

In Rabat, Morocco, Paul Rippey (prun...@mtds.com) reports
they have Mint, Fruit, Strawberry, and Spearmint. Each
roll there has 14 Mentos.

While in the Bahamas, Steve Giles (steve...@sympatico.ca)
found Fruit, Spearmint, and Grapefruit. Each roll cost $1 (US)

Thad Knouse (t...@lehigh.edu) was vacationing in Lichtenstein
a while back and he found Lemon and Apple Mini-Mentos!
(In four-packs, mind you.)

Edwin Ostrin (edw...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) found both
Licorice and Tropical Fruit in South Africa and Hong
Kong.

Jason Osada (osa...@alpha.lasalle.edu) sent his girlfriend,
Jen, to France in order to help our quest for Mentos. She
uncovered "Chlorophylle" Mentos, which is, apparently
French for "Spearmint."

Mike Hoffman (vid...@tezcat.com) did some traveling
recently and, while in Copenhagen, Denmark he found
some more Drop Lakrids. Also, while in Stockholm, Sweden,
Mike came across "Fruit" Mentos. They were, upon closer
inspection, simply Mixed Fruit with a different title.

@lfred (ta...@xs4all.nl) found Mini-Mentos in The Netherlands.
These included Apple, Lemon, Orange, and Strawberry all in
one bag! (See more on this in Section 2a: Packaging)

Villa Weisberg asked her father for some Mentos from Taiwan
when he came over for a recent visit. Among the Taiwanese
flavors were Grape, Mint, and Mixed Fruit.

Reporting from Germany, Torsten Krake (To...@dungeon.mbis.de)
finds Tropical Fruit and the infamous Mint-Licorice Mentos,
along with the ever-present Mint flavor.

While in Canada this summer on vacation, Donna Nucera
(DM...@aol.com) found Tropical Fruit Mentos. (Tropical
in Canada? Yes!)

What about WINTERGREEN? In an article from May 1991's
issue of Candy Industry, there are some pictures of Van
Melle products. In plain view is a box of Wintergreen
Mentos! This picture was taken at their American plant, so
at some point, Wintergreen Mentos must have been available!

While in Japan, George Scala (XZL...@prodigy.com) found
Mini-Mentos. About 10-15 rolls/bag seemed to be average.
They were fruit flavored rolls, and the bag proclaimed
"It's A Small Mentos World!"

It seems it's simply a crap shoot whether your area or country
will stock your favorite Mentos flavor.

*********PLEA FOR FLAVORS**********
We that have been entrusted with the Mentos FAQ, in order to provide
you Mentophiles with full and accurate descriptions of Mentos in all
forms, require your help.

If there is anyone out there with access to the flavors we have not
yet encountered, we would really appreciate a pack or two. This is,
of course, for research purposes only...not for the selfish reasons
you might think. We will, of course, reimburse you--pay you for
product and mailing, etc. We're even willing to trade something
with you. Confection for confection! Please let us know if you
are interested in trading!!

A very special thanks to Tom Mathies (mat...@bucknell.edu) for sending
us Apple Mentos from Australia, to Rene Lego who helped get us the
Japanese Apple, Grape, Strawberry, Peach, and Grapefruit Mentos,
to Steph Mandell (st...@newton.xs4all.nl) for the DropMentos from
the Netherlands, to Jay-O for the Chlorophylle Mentos from France,
Mentos from France, to Mike Hoffman for the Fruit and Licorice from
Sweden and Denmark (respectively), Villa Weisberg for the Mint, Mixed
Fruit, and Grape Mentos from Taiwan, to Torsten Kracke
(to...@dungeon.mbis.de) for the 8 packs of Tropical Fruit and the 2
packs of Mint-Licorice from Germany, to Matthew Hansen
(matthew...@smtp1.insead.fr) for the French Chlorophylle Mentos,
to Chanda Dominiak (puss...@vm.temple.edu) for the 4-pack of German
Mint Mentos, and to Donna Nucera for the Canadian Tropical Fruit Mentos!
We love you all!

We encourage everyone to truly make it a "Small Mentos World"
and write to your local Van Melle distributor immediately and
ask them (be nice) to begin importing other flavors of Mentos
you'd like!


Section 6: Mentos Culture

6a) Pop Culture Mentos Sightings:

* Christopher Heyn (ImO...@aol.com) tells us that he's the Script
Coordinator for the TV show Baywatch. He (among other things)
works with one of the co-producers in product placement in the
show. In other words, he makes sure certain products are in
certain scenes of the show. He says that in 1994, Van Melle
spent "their entire TV advertising budget for the 1994 season"
on "Baywatch". So, if you are lucky enough to catch reruns of
the '94 season, keep your eyeballs peeled for rolls of Mentos
roaming around on the beaches.

Unfortunately, we don't have an episode list to guide you on
your search. So if anyone is a fan of the show and can mark
down which episodes are Fresh & Full of Life, please let us know.

* According to J.B. Nicholson-Owens (j...@mystery-train.msilink.com),
Janeane Garofalo was on the "Conan O'Brien" show and they made
a spoof of "The Fake Photographer" (#2). Janeane spoke of
how odd the ads were, and J.B. says that the spoof was
quite funny.

* Janeane Garofalo must enjoy speaking of The Freshmakers because
FranLand says that on Garofalo's recent HBO
special, she did an impression of someone watching a Mentos
ad. It starts off with her face completely deadpan, and then
she gradually looks more and more bewildered. Finally, she
says, "Wha....? I don't...is that his mother...What?..."

* In the 1996 "Studmuffins of Science" calendar, Dr. August
(Rob Elia) lists his "favorite current web site" as the
Mentos web site. (Thanks to Chad Jones for reporting this)

* "Weird Al" Yankovic did a Mentos spoof on the most recent
installments of AL-TV (US) and ALMUSIC (Canada).

In the spoof, Al pushes an overzealous fan off the roof of
a posh LA area hotel. Afterwards Al, visibly shaken, is
faced with the fan's friends, who are obviously upset at
this drastic turn of events. Then, Al gets a fresh idea
and pulls out his roll of Mentos! The friends suddenly
understand and live happily ever after.

Al himself pointed out to us that he turned the "M" upside
down on his roll to make it read "Wentos." Thanks, Al!

In the MuchMusic special, Al's Mentos parody is a little
different. He's showing the viewers the proper way to hail
a cab. After he gets one, another bystander tries to hop
in, at which point Al begins to beat him into a pulp with a
crowbar. MuchMusic cuts to one of those "PLEASE STAND BY" logos
and when we return, Al has murdered the gentleman. Shocked,
Al pulls out his roll of Mentos, once again making everything
FAFOL! (Special thanks to Chris Foley (chr...@iceonline.com)
for getting a copy of this spoof to us!)

* Several people reported the parody of Mentos that "The Late
Show with David Letterman" did on July 11, 1996:
On the show, Letterman's guest, Dennis Rodman, couldn't be there.
Dave announced this in a panic and screamed "What are we going
to do?" Paul Shaffer then pulls out his roll of Mentos,
pops one and runs off into wardrobe. During this, the
Mentos theme is being played. When Paul returns to the stage
he's wearing a bright green wig, and a basketball jersey.
"Mentos! The Freshmaker!"

* MaintainterDave reports that while watching an episode of
Talk Soup a few months back, Skunkboy introduced
himself as Jon "The Freshmaker" Henson.

* Jason Alan Pfaff (p7...@concentric.net) was first to report
that on the September 12, 1996 episode of "3rd Rock from the
Sun," one of the characters picked up a scrap from a table
and said "Mmmm, a Mento!", popped it into his mouth...looked
disgusted, took it out and said, "ooh...NOT a Mento."
Anyone catch this gem on tape?

* The band Supernova has a song called Mentos on their CD
entitled "Ages 3 and Up". The song, a 30 second salute
to Mentos, features the same chorus repeated three times:
"Uno momento...everybody do the Mentos!" We're still
researching exactly what that means, but it's a fun song
(and a fun CD!)

* According to an article in Entertainment Weekly, Siskel
and Ebert made their own Mentos spoof! The article says
that at the Council of Fashion Designers of America
awards in February, 1996, the movie reviewers were giving
a tribute to designer Isaac Mizrahi in "what appeared to be
a Mentos spoof." Apparently Gene and Roger were giving their
thumbs-up in a fresh and full of life manner.

* In an ad that appeared in the July 21, 1996 edition of the
Philadelphia "CITY PAPER", the Reading Terminal Market's
slogan was, "More Cheese than a Mentos Commercial."

* On March 1, 1996, Inside Edition apparently had a piece on
Mentos, which, among other things, mentioned Dan Wood's Mentos
Art Gallery. If anyone caught this on tape, please E-mail us!

* On May 15, 1996, in the comic strip "Thatch", characters in
the strip tried to make "catching things with your mouth" an
official Olympic event. The item that is tossed is a Mento.
(Thanks to Michele Liguori r...@ultranet.com for bringing this
to our attention, and to the artist, Jeff Thatc...@aol.com)

* Several folks responded to our call for the Mentos bit on
"Mystery Science Theater 3000". It turns out that there
were two mentions of Mentos on MST3K, thus causing the
confusion regarding this matter.

Follows is a transcript, thanks to wmo...@slinknet.com
This transcript can also be found on his MST3K homepage
at http://www.slinknet.com/~wmorgan/trans/mst89.txt

MYSTOS MINT COMMERCIAL
(During "Teenage Crimewave")
<episode 522>

(This is a parody of that annoying commercial where the guy tries to
photograph the "starlet" arriving at the theater...He's not allowed
close enough, so he takes a MENTOS, hops the barrier and blends in
with the other photogs...All live Happily Ever After...Crow sings, Mike
as the pushy young jerk, Tom as the security guy at the barrier, Gypsy
as the beautiful "starlet"...)

Crow: Cause it's really so fun!
Cause it's really so buns!
When you have super fun! (Mike talks to Servo...)
Eating tasty mints! (Mike tries to step over barrier)

Crow: You can challenge mores!
You can bend silly rules!
You're rebelling in an (Mike argues with Servo...)
Unthreatening way!!! (Frank & Dr. F cheer Mike on...)

Crow: You're really blonde! (Mike turns cap around backward)
And it's true! (Mike grabs a camera...)
People look up to you (Mike steps over barrier...)
Whenever you eat mints (Gypsy arrives in blonde wig...)
Whenever the hell you want to! (Mike takes pictures...)

Crow: Youth is better! (Mike continues to use camera...)
In every situation!
Youth is better!
Old is stupid! (Mike picks up big MYSTOS package)
Youth is better! (Holds it up beside his face...)
So eat MYSTOS (Starts to grin & mug for camera)
And live a super long life! Mike: (Speaking) MYSTOS!

(Commercial Sign)

Thanks to Nick Morencey (TheN...@acy.digex.com) (he was first to
respond to our call) and to everyone else (and their brother) that wrote
in. A tape of this episode is available through the fan club.


6a-1) FOOTOS: The Fresh Fighter!

On Valentine's Day, 1996, The Foo Fighters released a video for
their song "Big Me". The song's video, directed by Jesse Peretz
is a very well-produced spoof of three different Mentos Commercials.

* The first spoof, a frame by frame parody of the original
"Car Movers" ad, features our heroine getting blocked
in by an unfresh motorist who decides his business call is
just that much more important than our damsel in distress.
She pops a "Footos" and waves four guys in overalls over.
But wait! These are no ordinary council workers! These
are the Foo Fighters!! Dave Grohl and the gang lift her car
out of it's predicament and Freshness is achieved! Up comes
the logo: FOOTOS--The Fresh Fighter!

* Next up is the "Foo The Car" episode. As the guys are gearing
up to go play soccer, Dave stops to tie his shoe. A simple
task to say the least, but today it almost cost him his life.
A speeding limo separates Dave from the rest of the Fighters
and he is left, stranded, on the other side of the street.
Unsure of what to do, he whips out his roll of Footos, chows
down and realizes there is only one solution to this problem.
With that solution in mind, he hops into the limo, wanders past
the businesswoman on the phone in the back, and hops out.
The rest of the band goes crazy, and the rider of the limo
looks on with wild abandon and Dave pops another Footos!

* The third spoof, "The Backstage Foo" finds a helpless boy
trying to get in to see the Foo Fighters. The boy is
shown a "NO ENTRANCE" sign by an unfresh security guard.
Undaunted, the boy pops a Footos, runs off to grab himself a
guitar and bandana, and makes his way to the stage. The show
grinds to a halt as Dave Grohl, the rest of the Foo Fighters,
and the guard spot him as he is playing along on stage. The boy,
not frightened at all because of his source of power, ingests
one more Footos and flashes the winning smile to the camera.
Dave and the guys understand. Footos! The Fresh Fighter!

The video garnished much attention for the band, and for Mentos.
In September of 1996 at the MTV Video Music Awards, The Foo
Fighters were presented with the "Best Group Video" award for
the video. Upon accepting the award, Dave Grohl said he felt the
award brought on a "sense of closure" and asked fans to "please
stop throwing Mentos at us at our concerts."

The video is currently available at Dan Wood's site, courtesy
of Chris Carman (carm...@muohio.edu)

6b) Other Mentos-related publications:

1) In the December 21, 1994 edition of "SF Weekly" (a
San Francisco based magazine) Mary Elizabeth Williams
(Mary...@well.com) wrote an article on 'Hacker cuisine'.
Among other things, the article discusses a woman (Julie)
who brought "Freshmakers" to a party. "Freshmakers"
are Jell-o and vodka shots spiked with Mixed Fruit Mentos.
There is even a photo of them in shot glasses!
In real life, though, Mary Elizabeth says the Freshmakers
came in paper muffin-shaped holders for "easy slurping"

2) 'Sassy' magazine's "Working our Nerves" column in the
Dec '94 issue. "Mike shares his personal and rather
visceral opinions of the Mentos commercials..."
- Susannah Str...@brown.edu

3) FVo...@aol.com let us know that USA Today had an article
on Mentos being #2 on the list of the 10 worst commercials
of 1994 as chosen by ad agency creative directors.
(The last Week of December was the date)

4) FVo...@aol.com then wrote a nice article for two Pittsburgh
weekly papers: The Murrysville Star, and the Norwin Star.
The date for the papers was January 4, 1995. If you'd
like to read the article, which speaks up against USA Today's
survey, take a look at the Mentos FAQ v4.0, or send us
E-mail and we'll be glad to pass it along.

5) Spin magazine, January '95 "Flash" section - 'Mentos
Deconstructed!' which was (incidently) fact-checked by
research editor Aaron Naparstek (Nap...@aol.com)

6) Heath Doerr was interviewed in the New York Times,
on June 12, 1995. The article gives a glowing review of
the FAQ, and features several quotes from our hero,
Heath.

7) Fran Pelzman Liscio (FranLand) writes a humorous
newsletter called "Hip Hop Housewife" (or H3). In the
July 25, 1995 (Vol 1, No 4) edition, she mentions Mentos in
one of the "Observation" paragraphs:
"As a nation, we may be divided on such diverse issues
as the OJ trial, Nafta, and genetically engineered
tomatoes. But isn't it reassuring to know that we're
all united in our contempt for the Mentos commercials?"

Fran would like everyone to know that, in retrospect,
contempt wasn't quite the word she meant:

"Contempt is something you would reserve for someone
who does something gratuitously cruel. There is nothing
gratuitously cruel about the Mentos commercials"

8) "Newsweek" featured a small article on Mentos on their
September 11, 1995 Periscope page. The article features
a nice photo of the elusive Mentos T-shirt.

9) Alex Gordon (a...@mcs.com) wrote a nice piece for
the September 1995 issue of INSIDER magazine. Included in
the article is our synopsis of commercial #8: A New Part-
Time Job.

10) In the December 24, 1995 edition of the Washington
Post, Tom Shales wrote an item on his 25 favorite
things about Television. The article, "Televisions
Joys to the World" lists as #18, the Mentos commercials:

"I've never tasted a Mentos, never even seen
one, but those hokey, corny ads with the
smiley-faced Eurokids are always a pick-me-up.
The ads are so unhip, they're hip, so uncool,
they're cool, so dorky, they're groovy."

Take that USA TODAY!

11) Tom Shales was up to it again in his On The Air Column
on April 23, 1996. He was writing about the new
series "Poltergeist: The Legacy" when he said it's
"supposed to be horrifying...but I've seen Mentos
commercials that gave me more of a jolt".
(Thanks, Mike Hoffman (vid...@tezcat.com) for finding this!)

12) Alex Gordon (a...@mcs.com) wrote another article on the
Mentos FAQ for the 2nd issue (January 1996) of INTERNET
UNDERGROUND. The article "Are We Not Mentos?"
can be found on-line at:
http://www.underground-online.com/archive/issue2/mentos
was the biggest and best article written on the Mentos
craze to date! Several quotes from the Gathering and Heath
Doerr were featured, along with (we're sorry to say)
some relatively yucky photos of The Gathering (which,
thankfully, didn't make it to the web-version!).

13) The week of Febuary 17th's TV GUIDE has a tiny mention
of the Mentos FAQ in their Cheers and Jeers section,
where they "Cheer" the Foo Fighter's video for "Big Me"
(and the Mentos FAQ!)

14) Entertainment Weekly had another write up of the Foo Fighters
video, along with mention of the FAQ (and a great picture
of Dave Grohl in his "Mentos pose". The article's name
is "Fresh Mints of the Airwaves" and gives a few insights
into the video. The article is in the Febuary 23rd issue.

15) In the April 12, 1996 issue of the Tampa Bay Times
in their Friday Extra guide to Entertainment, Curtis
Ross wrote a fresh article on the Mentos web-craze.
"Mentos Ads Up The Cool Quotient" was printed on the
opposite page of a great interview with Dave Grohl
of the Foo Fighters.

16) The San Gabriel Valley Tribune had their own article on
the Mentos Mystique, featuring reactions from everyday
people, trying to explain what the Mentos craze is really
all about. (Including a quote from our own Chad Jones!)
The article appeared in the April 21, 1996 edition in
the "voices" section.

17) Bunnyhop magazine's issue #6 had a great article by
Wendy Bryan: "The Great Mentos Conspiracy" The article
gives a somewhat untold story of Van Melle and Mentos.
A somewhat edited version of the article is available online
at: http://www.bunnyhop.com/BH6/mentos.html

18) Samantha Miller (smi...@people.timeinc.com) wrote a
nice article on the Mentos Online culture for People
Online. You can see it at:
http://pathfinder.com/people/daily/960613.html

19) The print version of People Magazine ran an article on
Liam Killeen, vice president of Marketing for Van Melle.
The article talks about the commercials and their impact
on American pop culture. It appeared in the November 25, 1996
issue.

And don't forget our periodical web newsletter on Mentos--
The Mentos Journal. Coming soon, a behind the scenes look
at the Foo Fighters video as well as your letters and stories!
Keep them coming! You can find them on at Chad's web site
http://www3.gse.ucla.edu/~cjones/mentos

6c) Other Appearances of the Mentos FAQ:

1) On the web, the Mentos FAQ can be found at:

The Official Mentos Site: Chad Jones'
http://www3.gse.ucla.edu/~cjones/mentos

You can also find it at:

http://www.mentos.com/ which has links to Chad's site and Dan's
Mentos Gallery.
http://www.best.com/~dijon/tv/mentos/
which was (incidentally) named one of C|nets
"Best Of The Web" sites.
http://www.cyberspace.com/slab/mentos/mentos-faq.html
and various other places, that have as yet been undocumented.

2) HotWired, 'The World Wide Web cyberstation brought to you by
the same folks who produce WIRED magazine'
http://www.hotwired.com The Mentos FAQ was featured
there for 2 weeks only, beginning Jan 30, 1995.

'NetSoup', HotWired's daily showcase of the best (most
interesting, amusing, eloquent, etc.) writing
on the Net. c/o

The HotWired NetSoup Team
June Cohen, editor (net...@hotwired.com)

'Sublime Site of the Week'. We were the Sublime Site of the
Week, according to "From the Rediculous to the
Sublime" (http://ccia.com/~bross/ridsub.htm) for
March 3, 1996.

Other Appearences:

1) 'Wired' magazine Feb '95 pg. 158, "Netsurf"
c/o Dan Sicko (Reve...@aol.com)

2) 'Blaster' issue #2 Jan, 1995. c/o tja...@netcom.com

3) 'Thumb' issue #? c/o Eric (em...@skidmore.EDU)

4) Henk Rijks (7266...@compuserve.com) recently wrote "A colleague of
mine is currently writing a story about your Mentos server for Het
Parool, one of The Netherlands leading dailys."

5) 'Agency', the publication of the American Association of
Advertising Agencies. Winter 1994 issue. c/o Thom Forbes
(tfo...@tforbes.com)

6) 'Baked and Crispy' issue #? c/o Allanarose (Allan...@aol.com)

7) 'Hitch' c/o Rod Lott (rl...@aol.com)
[check out the original Mentos article in the 10/94 issue of
Hitch. Very groovy, thanks Rod.]


6d) Other Mentos related net features:

E-mail auto server: mento...@fische.com

Ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/as/asuter/coolstuff/mentos.faq

THE MENTOS ART GALLERY: Dan Wood (dan...@pobox.com)
put up some *VERY* fresh graphic images, depicting the
past, present, and future of Mentos. Go to
http://zocalo.net/~danwood/ and take a look at these
masterpieces. Also, add your own! Very Fresh Indeed!

THE MENTOS JINGLE: Alexander Day Chaffe (al...@earthweb.com)
sampled our new favorite song, and now you can hear it anytime
simply by going to http://www.stinky.com/mentos.au

Or, if you're just in the mood to hear our friendly announcer
say his ever-so-pleasing tagline, go to A...@panix.com's
http://www.panix.com/~ali and click on the link that says
"Freshness".

THE VIRTUAL CHURCH OF MENTOS: Check out Cybersurfer's
http://www.restaurantcity.com/webtowers/mentos.html
Truly breathtaking. Furnished by csu...@interport.net

MENTOS, THE CHURCH: Another Fresh place of worship
exists at http://www.btf.com/mentos Nice piece of
work by b...@rabul.net

PHOTOS: See your favorite celebrities pose with Mentos!
check out MaintainerJeff's page at
http://astro.ocis.temple.edu/~wayman/photos.html

A Lotus Notes version of the Mentos FAQ is available on
http://www.charm.net/~turtle/weird.html

LIBER MENTOS: http://www.tezcat.com/~wednsday
These hysterical writings of Wednesday have moved!
Go look! Go look!

DEMENTOS: http://kit.trdkunst.nd/kitsch/dementos.html
If anyone can translate this Dutch article, we'd really
appreciate it...

Virus Internet Fanzine (http://198.147.111.1/Virus)
had an article about Altoids in which Jen Garber
(gar...@csulb.edu) mentions that Mentos are indeed
better. Click on Virus 2 and check out the article.

Chad Jones found a strange mention of Mentos in
Nietzsche for Complete and Total Idiots. Check out
http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena/user/t/h/thomasc/Public/
stories/Nietzsche.html
You'll just have to read it for yourself....

In downtown Jerusalem, A. Michael Shashoua (shas...@gate.net)
found a nice Mentos billboard. He took a picture of it, which
you can see at http://www.gate.net/~shashoua/images/israel/
mentos.jpg

Henry Lam (Hl...@ypn.com) wrote an article about online
food sites at http://www.ypn.com/mm-bin/genobject/article/
style19961030

Michelle R. Madison (nfn0...@naples.net) found the
"Top 20 cool things about a car that goes faster than the
speed of light" on the internet. Number 9 is "Kid from
Mentos commercials almost guaranteed to lose limb if he tries
to duck through the back seat."

Section 7: Mentos Home-brew

* Mentomania is ever-expanding, proof of which can be found at
SLOMOTION meetings according to Michael V Arnold
(mvar...@violin.aix.calpoly.edu). 'SLOMOTION' is a film club
in which the members have taken fancy to making their own
Mentos commercials. They only have two so far, but I'm sure
that more are in the works.

* Joshua Nash (NEXT...@aol.com) described an interesting Mentos
related experience he had while attending the University of
Michigan last year:

"One evening, I went to see an SNL-type comedy show. Half-way
through, the lights dimmed, and a screen lowered from the top
of the stage. I heard the beginning notes of the Mentos song.
On the screen, there was a man in a blue car at one end of an
empty parking lot. At the other end, was another man. The man
in the car flashes a roll of peppermint freshness and begins to
drive at the other man. He accelerates and we see him close the
gap until we see a shot of the grille. We then see a shot of
the sky...all of a sudden, a body crosses the camera's view.
We then see the driver put the car in gear again and drive toward
the pedestrian. Feeling even more fresh, he appears to run over
the man (much in the fashion of the Toxic Avenger). We then see
the man's head (and aparently the rest of his body) sticking out
from under the car, his head approx. 1 1/2 feet behind the left
front wheel. The driver then opens the door (hitting the man
on the head) and displays the Mentos to him. We see the beloved
orange bar and hear, 'Mentos, da freshmaker.'"

Stephen Falk (kam...@aol.com) heard a rumor a while back
about an NYU film student who, for his Junior Thesis
Project, made a black and white Mentos commercial about the
Kennedy assassination. It features a secret service agent
who arrives at the book depository a second too late. The
film apparently uses some footage from the Zapruder film
as well. Has anyone else seen this?

According to Mike Brown (mi...@hyperreal.com), a student
theater company at the University of Dayton put on a
Mentos commercial. The scene is a classroom, where a student
who obviously didn't study is trying to cheat on a test. The
girl next to him catches on and tries to obstruct his view
of her test. The boy pops a Freshmaker, gets up, and strangles
the life out of her. He takes her test paper and sits back
down. The teacher, horrified and shocked at what just happened
is standing there, her mouth agape. The boy whips out his roll
of Mentos and displays them proudly to his teacher, who clearly
will not punish him now.

Section 8: Miscellaneous

* Mentos are $0.48/tube at Phar-Mor in Franklin Mills Mall,
Philadelphia, PA, USA.

* Heath, the beloved creator of the Mentos FAQ wrote:

I am currently negotiating with the Psychology department
here at Purdue, in an attempt to obtain a research grant for
the purposes of studying what I have termed 'the freshness
effect' caused by consuming Mentos brand candies. Although there
seems to be no mind altering substances contained in Mentos,
individuals suddenly become aroused, inventive, and lose all
regard for the norms of society a short time after using
them. I've asked for $23,729.

* Jim Howard (De...@cadence.com) writes:

I've figured out the secret of the Mentos commercials! They never
made any sense to me until I made the connection: The sword-like
presentation of the Mentos tube to the inevitable villain is
actually a politically-correct substitute for the one-finger
salute! Think of the possibilities! Hey boss, check out the
Mentos! That jerk cut me off in traffic - have a Mentos, buddy!
You, the idiot with the attitude, Mentos this!

* Tim Verry (ver...@taft.law.uc.edu) has confessed interest in
hammering out the details of 'the freshness defense' for criminal
acts committed while under the influence of Mentos. Good luck,
Tim. [Say, isn't that a roll of Spearmint in that white Bronco
over there?]


* The teen that 'Evades Mom' does so by donning a New York
Yankees cap. Ralph Berman (mkh...@prodigy.com) pointed
out that the cap had a different color scheme than the
New York Yankees caps here in the States. He says that
the NY symbol is in a silverish color instead of white, as is
the visor of the cap, instead of being navy blue.

* Tyler K. Wong (neo...@netcom.com) listens to Alexx Bennett on
Live 105 (105.3 FM) in San Francisco from 6am to 10am, and
tells me that during his show, Mr. Bennett receives and reads
E-Mail on the air. Tyler apparently came close to getting some
of this FAQ read on the air. Live 105 isn't as fresh as some of
the other stations in the Bay area, however, because Tyler
couldn't sell him, and Alex later answered a phone call he
wanted to put on the air instead.

* At Florida State University, Isaac Salpeter (zba...@pobox.com)
gets to view 'Soccer Freshness' at the free movies show in
the student union. They apparently show it frequently before
the feature. The ad is an actual 16mm print of the commercial
and is often recieved better than the feature film itself,
according to Isaac.

* Shane "Big Daddy Polite" Feldhaus (slf...@dunix.drake.edu)
also reports seeing "Soccer Freshness" at the Drake University
last year. It seems this phenomenon is growing fast...

* The United States is apparently very lucky--Just
Schimmelpenninck from the Netherlands (ju...@luna.nl)
reports that the only ads they have are 'The 3 Second
Car-Jacking', 'Overalls and Mentos', and 'Those Crazy
Kids' (parts 1 AND 2)

* Heath reported that on the 'Steak and Shake' on Highway 52
in Lafayette, they have a candy machine that dispenses Mentos.
The flavor was mixed fruit, he found after testing them.
The dispenser simply read "MENTOS" It charged 25 cents, and
when he turned the crank got 7 candies. "But," he says,
"your mileage may vary."

* Also, Susannah Strang writes "In our student run coffee shop
there is a 'insert-coin-get-candy-through-hole' style dispenser
that grants a large handful (probably 12-15) of Mentos (Mixed
Fruit) for only a quarter. As you know, this is quite a bargain,
but there is a catch; the Mentos are 'seconds'--deformed,
shriveled, discolored, strangely crusty, sometimes to the point
that it is difficult to look at them."

Hmmm... 'Old Mentos never die, they just get dispensed.'

* Van Melle sent the following text to the E-Mail autoserver
back when they had their AOL account:

"Please send all text pertaining to Mentos to VanM...@aol.com"

SECTION 9:Mentos Merchandise!

1) Mentos T-Shirts

Ever since the Newsweek article came out, (see section 6b)
one of the most Frequently Asked Questions of us is
"How can I get me one of them Mentos T-shirts?"
Well, after much deliberation, we've come up with the
following: Find someone wearing the shirt, run them over
with your car, take the shirt off them, then flash your
roll of Mentos at them before they call the police.

Actually, Van Melle had offered Mentos T-Shirts a few years
back. Apparently, there was a sticker that came with Mentos
saying "For Free Mentos T-shirt, Call 1-800-33T-Shirt"
A recording would tell you to send 10 Mentos wrappers in
to get your free T-shirt. Sadly, this offer expired a number
of years ago, and the 800 number has since been disconnected.

Katherine "Rosie Perez" Ewald (ber...@anderson.edu) came
up with an alternate method of acquiring a Mentos T-shirt.
She found one at a Goodwill store for *shudder* 99 cents.
For less than a DOLLAR she found Freshness of the utmost
magnitude. (Sure, there's some blue paint on the front,
but it's still a ruling shirt.) She reports that, on
the back, the slogan "Fresh Goes Better" appears.
By the way, don't even TRY to talk her out of it, she won't
give it up.

2) Mentos - the Rocktrax (Yes, it's a CD)

(note: the cover has the guy with the bandana from
commercial #7)

1: The Mentos Song: Fresh Goes Better
2: Cockney Rebel- Make Me Smile
3: Marc Almond- A Lover Spurned
4: The Specials (Feat. Rico, Dick Cuthell)- Ghost Town
5: The Proclaimers- I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)
6: The Knack- My Sharona
7: Talking Heads- Blind
8: Pat Benetar- Love is a Battlefield
9: Runrig- News from Heaven
10: Sunny- Stop!
11: Blondie- Heart of Glass
12: Billy Squire- The Stroke
13: Moon Martin- Bad Case of Loving You
14: Mink DeVille- Cadillac Walk
15: Huey Lewis and the News- Power of Love
16: Frankie Miller- Darlin'
17: Peter Tosh- Johnny B. Goode

Compilation (P) 1994 Minos-EMI S.A.

Unfortunately, I haven't come across a copy of this CD here in
the states. This one from Greece cost Emmanuel Athans
(sp...@vesta.unm.edu) 5000 drx (about 20 bucks.)


Section 10: Credits

Originator, Creator, and all around Neat-O guy of the Mentos FAQ:

Heath Doerr

Mainainers, Mentos FAQ:
The core SIX-PACK:
Jeff Nucera (WAY...@vm.temple.edu)
Kevin Kibelstis (KIB...@vm.temple.edu)
Brian Procopio (MAC...@vm.temple.edu)
Dave Bock (BURG...@vm.temple.edu)
Sean Quinn (RADA...@vm.temple.edu)
Stacey Leider (off line for now)

Submission credits:

Chad Jones (cjo...@gse.ucla.edu)
Dan Wood (dan...@pobox.com)
Chris Carman (carm...@muohio.edu)
Lonnie Whittington (lon...@tracer.com)
Laurie Zimmerman (zi...@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu)
@lfred (ta...@xs4all.nl)
Helen Kittler
C. Shamis (csh...@erinet.com)
Katherine Ewald (ber...@anderson.edu)
Michele Liuori (r...@ultranet.com)
Michelle R. Madison (nfn0...@naples.net)
Jason Alan Pfaff (p7...@concentric.net)
Matt Dubno (boo...@198.4.75.47)
Travis W. Fisher (tfis...@g1.umbc.edu)
The Turtle (tur...@fred.net)
Paul Rippey (prun...@mtds.com)
Steve Giles (steve...@sympatico.ca)
Karen Ann (kam...@acs.bu.edu)
Steph Mandell (st...@newton.xs4all.nl)
A. Michael Shashoua (Shas...@gate.net)
Lee S. Weinberg (lwei...@ix.netcom.com)
Thad Knouse (t...@lehigh.edu)
Edwin Ostrin (edw...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu)
Jason Osada (osa...@alpha.lasalle.edu)
Mike Hoffman (vid...@tezcat.com)
Villa Weisberg
Torsten Krake (To...@dungeon.mbis.de)
Donna Nucera (DM...@aol.com)
George Scala (XZL...@prodigy.com)
Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Chris Foley (chr...@iceonline.com)
William Morgan (wmo...@slinknet.com)
Matthew Hansen (han...@insead.fr)
Nick Morency (then...@acy.digex.net)
Chris Carman (carm...@muohio.edu)
Cybersurfer (csu...@interpoprt.net)
Stephen Falk (kam...@aol.com)
Mike Brown (mi...@hyperreal.com)
Shane Feldhaus (slf...@dunix.drake.edu)
Isaac Salpeter (zba...@pobox.com)
Zann Tenuto (Ste...@vm.temple.edu)
Mitch Davis (MDa...@vm.temple.edu)
Michael F. March (TheFre...@mentos.com)
Doug Krause (di...@lido.com)
Just Schimmelpenninck (ju...@luna.nl)
William Hanlon (wha...@emerald.rutgers.edu)
Mary Elizabeth Williams (mary...@cnet.com)
Fran Pelzman Liscio (FranLand@)
Jen Garber (gar...@csulb.edu)
Hudi (Hu...@uclink2.berkeley.edu)
Alexander Day Chaffee (al...@earthweb.com)
Tom Mathies (mat...@bucknell.edu)
John Zmaczynski (j...@mcs.com)
Gilmore (gil...@vv.com)
Scott Whitmore (whit...@utw.com)
J.B. Nicholson-Owens (j...@mystery-train.msilink.com)
Scott Wenzel (scott....@s3abac8.ssa.gov)
Ali Lemer (a...@panix.com)
Chick Peterson (chick.p...@dts.harris.com)
Steve Abatangle (sa...@enterprise.dts.harris.com)
Isra V. Wongsarnpigoon (i...@umich.edu)
Ralph Berman (mkh...@prodigy.com)
Chris Charman (cha...@Inference.com)
Hannah Meehan (hme...@gteens.com)
Barry (barry...@aol.com)
Andrea (ap...@cas.org)
Mark Schnitzius (schn...@east.isx.com)
Susannah Strang (Susanna...@brown.edu)
JRH...@aol.com
Michael V Arnold (mvar...@violin.aix.calpoly.edu)
Ron Bauerle (bau...@crypt.erie.ge.com)
David (dfri...@usc.edu)
Ron Henyry (VGHO...@delphi.com)
Emmanuel Athans (sp...@vesta.unm.edu)
Bev (wedn...@tezcat.com)
Erik Hinzpeter hinz...@badlands.NoDak.edu
Kevin Bourrillion (ke...@bradley.edu)
Richard P Meres (rme...@selway.umt.edu)
7266...@compuserve.com Henk
Dave Leheny (s00...@ipe.tsukuba.ac.jp)
Jeffrey F. Brent (lo...@acpub.duke.edu)
Andy Brooks (ace...@netcom.com)
mile...@nova.edmonds.wednet.edu
David S. Cowen (es...@fische.com)
Emily Cox (ze...@gorn.iuma.com)
Figlet, the ASCII font creator.
BRAUN, DAVID MICHAEL (MEN...@MUSIC.CC.UGA.EDU)
sl...@cyberspace.com
Todd A. Gibson (tgi...@lookout.ecte.uswc.uswest.com)
Carmen Rocco cro...@freenet.columbus.oh.us
Steven Grimm (kor...@hyperion.com)
Joseph Hernandez (jtc...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU)
Dan Hoey (ho...@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil)
Alan Jaffray (ajaf...@midway.uchicago.edu)
msc...@pobox.upenn.edu MLS
Bruce R. Kasrel (bka...@us.oracle.com)
Timothy F. Kingwell (qu...@futon.sfsu.edu)
brea...@lclark.edu Wes
Richard N. Kitchen (da...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
James J. Lippard (lip...@news.primenet.om)
Mark (stal...@world.std.com)
Paulo A. Pereira (ol...@MIT.EDU)
Jeff T.P. (im...@expert.cc.purdue.edu)
Jan Setje-Eilers (j...@expert.cc.purdue.edu)
Andrew R. Shulman (an...@world.std.com)
spa...@titan.ucs.umass.edu
rst...@a.site.name (Rand Stamm)
Genna Totten (ded...@rhf.bradley.edu)
Eric L. Tullis (TUL...@indy.navy.mil)
Tyler K. Wong (neo...@netcom.com)
Lupus Yonderboy (asu...@netcom.com)
Thom Forbes (tfo...@tforbes.com)
Aaron Naparstek (nap...@aol.com)
Daniel Sapualding (Lam...@kaiwan.com)
Christopher Heyn (ImO...@aol.com)
Eric Johnson (pimp...@wam.umd.edu)
Richard (Ptd...@delphi.com)
Tara Prigge (Ta...@bwc.org)
Erik Sklar (Esk...@astro.ocis.temple.edu)
Francis Volpe (FVo...@aol.com)
Dan Wood (Dan...@pobox.com)
Michael V. Arnold (mvar...@violin.amx.calpoly.edu)
NEXT...@aol.com
Jim Howard (De...@cadence.com)
Tim Verry (Ver...@taft.law.uc.edu)
Jne...@laurel.com
Dan Sicko (Reve...@aol.com)
Tja...@netcom.com
Em...@skidmore.edu
Henk Rijks (7266...@compuserve.com)
Allanarose (Allan...@aol.com)
Rod Lott (Rl...@aol.com)


NOTE: In a most unfresh editing accident we may have lost some contribution
credits. If you see something you wrote, please write to us and let
us know. Also, if you see your name in here for no reason at all,
feel free to contact us so that we can save a line of text.

Section 11: History

9/2/94: V0.01 (beta)
9/6/94: V0.5
9/7/94: V0.9
9/14/94: V1.0 (final)
9/28/94: V1.1a (update)
9/28/94: V1.1b (.html version)
11/2/94: V2.0 (now even fresher!)
12/15/94: V3.0 (never publically released)
6/26/95: V4.0 (Under new Management, and twice as fresh!)
11/27/95: V5.0 (Severe Remodeling, to make it sufficiently FAFOL!)
11/25/96: V6.0 (Celebrity Packed and Mintier than ever!)

MENTOS: THE FRESHMAKER

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