Juicy Fruit Sweet Fruit

Flavor (and Presentation): I feel as though flavor and texture need to be combined for this review. So it was said, and so it shall be. I guess I'm kind of confused. The idea is sort of like a spinoff movie-- from the guys who brought you Juicy Fruit, now Juicy Fruit Sweet Fruit! But... isn't that kind of redundant? My point here is that the guys who brought us Juicy Fruit are also the guys that brought us 5, Orbit, Hubba Bubba, Doublemint, and on and on in a wide variety of flavors, textures, and gimmicks. So what gives? What does this gum have to do with Juicy Fruit? Not much of anything, if you ask me. So why not include it in the Orbit pellet family, or in a new Wrigley family altogether? It's a pretty good gum, and has a fairly unique and pleasurable watermelon flavor. In fact, although it's named "Sweet Fruit," the package is sprinkled with watermelon and kiwis. And that's what it is, if I had to describe it-- it's a watermelon kiwi pellet gum. It certainly isn't Juicy Fruit, though, especially since the new sugar-free Juicy Fruit pellets are a pretty large deviation from classic Juicy Fruit to begin with. It barely resembles the new, unfamiliar Juicy Fruit. It's a new gum trapped inside an old gum's body. Much like the movie Vice Versa, it's really enjoyable, but it probably will become sort of a cult classic and forgotten with the next round of gimmicky gum wrappers.

Texture: It has a nice sugary (-esque) crunch with the initial bite and maintains a consistent chew, not too soft or hard at any point. But just one pellet is useless as far as I'm concerned. In this case, I think at least 3 are required for a decent experience, which warrants the enormous plastic container in which it is sold. It should be noted that there's a large plastic door on top for "sharing" and a mini-door on the back of the bottle if you only want one piece. Since I advise against having only one piece, however, I'm rather unimpressed with this feature.

Overall: I think this watermelon-kiwi newbie never got a chance to stand on its own. It will forever live in the shadow of Juicy Fruit-- to which no gum could or should really ever be compared. Anyone who picks up a Juicy Fruit container will expect some semblance of Juicy Fruit and will be in some sense disappointed. Hopefully some folks will recognize its true potential, and it will live on beyond its ill-fated label.

Rating: ooo (three gumballs)