Rowntree's Fruit Gums are circular sweets formerly made by Rowntree's, who were later acquired by Nestlé. There are five flavours, each of a different colour: strawberry (originally raspberry), orange, lemon, blackcurrant, and lime.
The sweets were introduced in 1893, and originally marketed as Rowntree's Clear Gums - "The nation's favourite sweet" - and were available in twopenny tubes and sixpenny packets.[1] In addition to the traditional roll packaging, they were available in a larger-volume box containing the sweets in the shape of the fruit or part of the fruit that the flavour represents.
In 2020 Nestlé have made the move to sell Fruit Gums solely in a bag format, as they are recyclable through the Terracycle scheme, shortly followed by a vegan friendly recipe change.
In 2022 due to growing pressure from consumers, Rowntree's made a u-turn on their decision to scrap the tubes of Fruit Gums. The tubes were re-introduced but only as a vegan friendly version.There is growing pressure from consumers to return the product to its original non-vegan recipe.[citation needed]
Rowntree's changed their fruit gums recipe to a vegan friendly recipe.
The fruit juice content was 25 percent up until around 2010 when it was changed to 1 percent concentrated fruit juice.
In 2017, Nestlé announced that they would reduce the amount of sugar by 30%.[3]
"Don't Forget the Fruit Gums, Mum"
An advertising campaign for the gums that ran for three years from 1958 to 1961 included the slogan "Don't Forget the Fruit Gums, Mum". The slogan was invented by the copywriter Roger Musgrave (1929-2007).
The television advert featured a young boy reminding his mother to buy fruit gums as she leaves to go shopping. The advert claims that "[Fruit Gums] last all day" and that "Rowntree's Fruit Gums last the longest"; this probably referred to the length of time taken for the sweets to dissolve in the mouth.[citation needed]
1 Currently manufactured by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods elsewhere. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
