A n d r e w s G u m W o r l d

IMAGE: Kauwgomballenboom by
Dutch artist Willemijn van der Spiegel

Earlier today, we posted a video featuring the early 1970’s Dutch hit Kauwgomballenboom (or, The Gum Tree) by Elly Nieman and Rikkert Zuiderveld. I realize that you may not readily understand Dutch (as is the case with me)….so here is a rough English translation of the lyrics (with some modest paraphrases, where appropriate) courtesy of Googletranslate and then the song, as it was originally written, in Dutch — if you don’t need help with translation (Dutch lyrics courtesy of musicfrom.nl):

Right in the garden of my silly old uncle
(There is a) gum tree, gum tree, a real (gum tree)
With a hundred thousand balls for a penny and a penny
They just (look) down (to see) if you’re awake
They are all together from the branches of the tree
Right in the garden of my uncle

And every Monday (there) is the party in the street
Then all the children sing and no one comes too late
Because my uncle then climbs to the top of the tree
As he shakes the branches
And the (gum)balls stick,
But he (thows them) down
That we may (take them)
Until we (are chewing) and smacking
Right in the garden of my uncle

You know what is best in your case
Take a gum, a big gumball
You do not have to buy for a penny and a penny
Just (take) a walk when you’re awake
Then (just) look (for) the gum tree
Right in the garden of my uncle

Because every Sunday is the party in the street
Then all the children sing and no one comes too late
Because then my uncle (shakes) all (the gum)balls from the tree
Why are you still moping
Get your Bulls and your piping
(Don’t) let your jaw freeze
Because what do you have to lose
(Other) than your teeth and your choice
Long live my crazy old uncle

—

Midden in het tuintje van mijn oude malle oom
Staat een kauwgomballenboom, een echte kauwgomballenboom
Met honderdduizend ballen voor een stuiver en een cent
Die zie je zomaar zitten als je uitgeslapen bent
Ze vallen met z’n allen uit de takken van de boom
Midden in het tuintje van mijn oom

En elke zondagmiddag is het feest in de straat
Dan zingen alle kinderen en niemand komt te laat
Want dan klimt me oom naar het topje van de boom
Daar schudt ie aan de takken
En de ballen die daar plakken
Laat ie naar beneden kwakken
Die mogen wij dan pakken
Tot we smikkelen en smakken
Midden in het tuintje van me oom

Weet je wat het beste is in jouw geval
Neem een kauwgombal, een hele grote kauwgombal
Je hoeft hem niet te kopen voor een stuiver en een cent
Gewoon een stukje lopen als je uitgeslapen bent
Dan kom je zonder zoeken bij de kauwgomballenboom
Midden in het tuintje van mijn oom

Want elke zondagmiddag is het feest in de straat
Dan zingen alle kinderen en niemand komt te laat
Want dan schudt mijn oom alle ballen uit de boom
Waarom zit je nog te kniezen
Pak je bullen en je biezen
Laat je kaken niet bevriezen
Want wat heb je te verliezen
Dan je tanden en je kiezen
Leve me ouwe malle oom…

IMAGE: Users Experiential

In our post earlier today, we shared a (widescreen!) video featuring part of an innovative chewing gum campaign conducted by Mentos Gum in Canada earlier this year.

Hessie Jones’ Toronto-based blog hessiej.com goes behind the scenes of the campaign, which encouraged consumers to suggest what they’d do to make the world go rounder. As Jones notes in her post, the campaign was designed to focus on life’s simple pleasures:

The premise: Make Your World Go Rounder was meant to be light-hearted and fun, and make Canadians smile by reminding them about life’s simple pleasures. According to Alison Neil of Cossette [the agency that created the campaign], “In the competitive and cluttered gum market we wanted to bring attention to a product feature of Mentos Gum, their roundness (the only round gum on the market), hence “make your world go rounder… we certainly consider this campaign to be non-traditional. We decided to develop an experiential/User Generated Content campaign to engage consumers, develop a dialogue with them and enhance their brand experience.”

The campaign included a website where individuals could post their own suggestions (a screen capture of the website is above), and the winning suggestion included what became a fun park for grown-ups (complete with inflatable slides) in Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto this past August.

Jones’ post includes a video of the winner of the contest, Danielle Lamarche, and the fun in Toronto that grew out of her idea…

IMAGE: Wrigley.

Since we were last here, we’ve had a chance to review several cogent and worthy discourses (along with great diagrams) on how gum is produced, and we thought we’d slip in the links here (including two Flash videos, courtesy of Chewing Gum Associations — of International and Japan fame):

How gum is made, Wrigley

How gum is made, International Chewing Gum Association

How gum is made, Chewing Gum Association of Japan