Wednesday, March 3, 2010

5 React Orange

Flavor: This gum has caused much controversy, as far as Shannon and I are concerned. We're thoroughly concerned with the marketing tactics that Wrigley's is using here. The "Five" series features seven funky flavors: Zing, Cobalt, Solstice, Rain, Flare, Lush and Elixir. They all seem to hold stereotypical roles in their gum family, there's the spearmint, the cinnamon, the mint, various fruit representatives. And now there's these two nameless cousins, called "React." One is orange, and one is blue, fruity and minty, respectively. But, much like "Cousin Bill" who reintroduces himself at a family wake, no one's quite sure how these flavors fit in the family. The orange React tastes fruity, sort of like mango and that generic fruity gum flavor that shows up a lot these days. The flavor is strong at first but quickly fades and leaves you thinking about another piece. It does last a decent amount of time, though, even if it is a bit dull after a while. The flavor itself leaves a rather undesirable aftertaste of sugar substitute.

Texture: The texture is satisfactory, a nice bite that stays solid for a good amount of time. But it's disconcerting that the React Orange is, in fact, black (as is the React Blue). When you spit it out, it's an alarming shade of silver. My parents warned me against the dangers of playing with mercury when I was a child, and chewing silver gum will just never feel right to me.

Overall: This gum, however sufficient in flavor in texture, is just out of place. I don't understand what "React" means, nor do I understand why it's that startling shade of black and silver. This gum, in effect, is an enigma to me. I just don't get it enough to give it a fair rating.

Rating: ?

13 comments:

Unknown said...

I think the React gums suggest you may need to add another category to your analysis, and that is presentation. I'm talking more than texture, I'm talking packaging, opening style, wrapper. The 5 line has always pleased me. I really appreciate its subtle texture on the front side. The opening is intuitive enough and it doesn't seem to slide open on its own. Finally, the last pieces don't get mushed if you pull in the correct order (I always have trouble with this in the Stride gums). The wrapper is what really made me do a double take? Black wrapper on my already classy looking gum. Yes please! Gum needs to be presentable, and I feel like I could eat this every from an upscale gentleman's club to a corner office with my boss. The slight matte finish on the wrapper screams sophistication. With all the different styles out there: traditional, double fold, big pack, plastic jar, flipside (my term for the 5 pack), punchouts...you really have to take this into consideration. Wrigley's et al are obviously putting thought into it. Reviewers and gum officionados should as well!

VeronicaS said...

I totally agree. React is pretty disappointing compared to other 5 gums (besides Flare) and it actually tasted to me like the mystery stride flavor that they just put out. (I mean the orange React, I haven't tasted the other one yet.) I do agree with Pjizz that the packaging style is nice, but we're talking about just React not 5 gum in all. The black wrapper was pretty cool but when the gum itself turned out to be black it left me thinking about licorice which would be disgusting if it were a gum so I was already feeling a little bit nauseated when I tasted the gum so it brought down my first impression a little bit but when I tried it again later I had the same opinion so maybe it wasn't the color's fault. (Wow, that was an extremly run-on sentence.) I would rate this pretty well if it were a brand like Orbit or Stride but for 5 my standards are just too high. Sorry to all you people who like React and are actually taking the time to read my comment/review but I just don't.

Katie said...

I just found this: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=1209242

What in the drugs? I must say, it sure is fun to review gum before marketing campaigns go global.

Shannon said...

What the hell did I just watch?

Anonymous said...

The gum tastes okay to me, like any other mint gum, and the packaging is more flat…good. But the gum itself being black does not appeal to me. When chewed, it looks like a raisin/little black lump. Seeing peoples gum is not appealing, although I am a gum chewer…but I would not like to see someone chewing on a black lump. I'm going to have to stick with other Wrigley products.

tablo said...

I LOVE the packaging and marketing. The thumb on the pack changes colours. The free sample. The black wrapper. The 5 React site. The fancy colours. But the TASTE - not so much. 5 React fruit tastes like orange Tic-Tac (which I don't really like) after few minutes. I like the similar tasting Stride Mega Mystery better.

Anonymous said...

Eh. This one is ok. The flavor was a little overpowering... Or a little too... Lightning-y? (:p)

Anywho. The blue mint 5 react gum is awesome. My favorite mint gum of all time ^^

spiderbait said...

According to the commercial for React, "Everyone experiences it differently."

Anonymous said...

"Everyone experiences it differently."

yeah probably because there's poor quality control and varying amounts of flavor compounds go into each batch. Sure would save money.

Anonymous said...

Stuff tastes just like Fruit Stripe to me, but with better texture times infinity. (Not like that's hard to do.) I agree it should have gone out as its own line, but the packaging is great and I don't mind black gum.

PeanutGnome said...

I've had different tasting 5 React Fruity in one package... and it made me think about why that might be. What if it is actually Lush, with a stripe of Solstice in the middle. It's not mixed in, but both flavours are died black and twisted or intertwined together. This would mean that every piece would have a unique combination of the two - and why it might taste different to different people. The 5 React Mint might be Solstice with leftover other flavors folded in. Is anyone with me on this possibility, or might I have schizophrenic taste buds?

Anonymous said...

I like it.

Sabina Paellmann said...

this gum is O.K. It changes colors.(brown to black to grey to periwinkle to blue to silver