You know the one. A teenage girl leaves for college, and her dad finds a crumpled gum wrapper in the cup holder of his truck. It’s got a little drawing on it. Suddenly, you’re not just looking at a screen; you’re wiping your eyes because a brand of peppermint gum just tricked you into feeling every single emotion associated with growing up. Extra chewing gum commercial spots have basically mastered the art of "the weepie," and honestly, it’s a fascinating study in how advertising changed from shouting about breath freshness to making us ponder the fleeting nature of time.
It started a decade ago. Before then, gum ads were weird. They were about twins or people getting hit in the face with a blast of icy wind. Then Wrigley—the parent company—decided to stop selling gum and start selling "connection."
👉 See also: Why the Cast of Voyager Star Trek Still Matters Decades Later
The Sarah and Juan Effect: Why "The Story of Sarah & Juan" Went Viral
If you haven’t seen the 2015 "The Story of Sarah & Juan" ad, you’ve probably lived under a rock. It uses Haley Reinhart’s cover of "Can’t Help Falling in Love," which was a stroke of genius. It’s two minutes of a high school romance told through the medium of gum wrappers.
He draws on them. She saves them.
The ad was directed by Pete Riski and created by the agency Energy BBDO. It didn't just perform well; it exploded. We’re talking over 75 million views across social platforms within weeks. Why? Because it ignored the product for 90% of the runtime. Most commercials are desperate to show you the logo. This one tucked the logo into the corners of a love story. It felt like a Pixar short, not a pitch.
But there’s a technical reason it worked, too. The pacing is frantic yet intimate. You see the first kiss, the first fight, the long-distance struggle. It hits the "life stages" beats that every human recognizes. When Juan reveals his gallery of saved wrappers at the end, it’s a payoff that feels earned. It taps into "nostalgia marketing," a tactic that brands like Disney and Coca-Cola use to bypass our cynical "I’m being sold to" filters.
Life Cycles and the "Origami" Ad
Before Sarah and Juan, there was "Origami." This is the father-daughter one. It’s shorter but arguably more "real" for anyone who has kids. A dad makes a little gum-wrapper swan for his daughter at different stages of her life.
She grows up. She gets moody. She leaves.
The reveal—that she kept every single swan in a shoebox—is the emotional gut-punch. This specific Extra chewing gum commercial was a pivot for the brand. They realized that gum is a "low-interest" category. Nobody spends twenty minutes researching which pack of spearmint to buy at the gas station. It’s an impulse purchase. By attaching the brand to a deep, primal emotion like parental love, Extra moved from being a utility to being a symbol.
The Psychology of "Micro-Moments"
Google actually has a term for this: micro-moments. In the advertising world, these ads are designed to capture the tiny, seemingly insignificant spaces in our lives.
Gum is a tiny thing.
A drawing is a tiny thing.
When you combine them, you create a "sticky" memory. According to market research from Kantar, emotional ads have a much higher correlation with long-term brand loyalty than "rational" ads that list features like "long-lasting flavor." Honestly, nobody believes gum lasts that long anyway. We know the flavor dies in ten minutes. But we remember how the ad made us feel.
The Post-Pandemic Pivot: "For When It’s Time"
In 2021, Extra shifted gears. The world had been stuck inside for a year. The "For When It’s Time" commercial was a chaotic, hilarious, and slightly gross celebration of the end of social distancing. It featured Celine Dion’s "It’s All Coming Back to Me Now."
✨ Don't miss: Why Female Artists in the 70s Finally Stopped Asking for Permission
People are crawling out of their houses. They’re kissing in the park. They’re realizing their breath smells like old coffee and isolation.
It was a departure from the "tear-jerker" formula, but it kept the core strategy: cultural relevance. It addressed a global shared experience. It was messy. It showed people with messy hair and rumpled clothes. This is "human-centric" design. Mars Wrigley’s global brand director at the time, Ivonne Valdes-Bouchard, noted that the goal was to meet the "pent-up energy" of the world.
What Most People Get Wrong About These Ads
People think these commercials are just about being "sad" or "cute."
They aren't.
They are highly engineered pieces of psychological triggers. Notice the lighting. It’s always warm, golden-hour hues. Notice the sound design. The "crinkle" of the foil is often amplified. This is sensory branding. It’s meant to trigger a physical response in your brain—the same way ASMR works. You hear the foil, you see the silver paper, and your brain subconsciously links that sound to the emotional high of the story.
The "Share" Factor
There's a reason you saw these on your Facebook feed from your aunt. They are "high-arousal" content. In viral marketing, high-arousal emotions (awe, excitement, sadness) drive sharing more than low-arousal ones (contentment). Extra doesn't make ads for TV; they make ads for the "Share" button.
The Evolution of the Extra Brand Voice
If you look at the timeline of the Extra chewing gum commercial history, you see a clear progression:
- Functional Era: Focus on dental health and breath.
- The "Little Things" Era: The Origami and Sarah/Juan ads. Focus on intimacy.
- The Cultural Era: The 2021 post-COVID ad. Focus on collective experience.
- The Digital-First Era: 2024 and beyond. Shorter, punchier, influencer-led but still trying to capture that "vibe."
It’s interesting to note that while the storytelling changed, the product stayed the same. It’s still the same rectangular stick. This proves the old marketing adage: you don't sell the steak, you sell the sizzle. Or in this case, you don't sell the gum; you sell the memory of your first kiss.
The Real Cost of These 60 Seconds
Producing a high-end commercial like "The Story of Sarah & Juan" isn't cheap. Industry estimates for a production of that scale—licensed music, top-tier director, location shooting—can easily top $1 million to $2 million. And that’s before the "media buy" (paying to show it on TV or YouTube).
Was it worth it?
Well, following the Sarah and Juan campaign, Extra saw a significant lift in brand equity scores. In a crowded market with Orbit, Trident, and 5 Gum, Extra managed to carve out a "premium" emotional space. It’s a masterclass in brand positioning.
Lessons for Content Creators and Marketers
You don't need a million-dollar budget to learn from what Extra did. The "secret sauce" is actually pretty simple to deconstruct:
- Music is 50% of the battle. A cover of a familiar song creates an immediate bridge to the viewer's existing memories.
- Show, don't tell. The best Extra ads have almost zero dialogue. They let the visual narrative do the heavy lifting.
- Specific is universal. By showing a very specific moment—like a drawing on a wrapper—they make the story feel more authentic.
- Embrace the "Lull." Don't be afraid of slow moments. The silence in the "Origami" ad is what makes the ending work.
Final Takeaway: Why We Keep Watching
We’re bombarded with 5,000 to 10,000 ads every single day. Most of them are noise. We skip them. We block them. But we watch the Extra chewing gum commercial because it offers a narrative reward. It gives us a tiny, 60-second movie in exchange for our attention.
It reminds us that even the smallest, most disposable things—like a piece of silver paper—can hold the weight of a decade of memories if we let them.
How to Apply These Insights
If you’re trying to build a brand or even just tell a better story on social media, stop looking at your "features." Nobody cares about your "long-lasting flavor" or your "proprietary algorithm."
They care about how you fit into their life.
Think about the "gum wrapper" in your own story. What is the small, tactile thing that represents the relationship you have with your audience? Focus on that. Forget the hard sell. Focus on the "wrapper."
Actionable Next Steps:
- Audit your storytelling: Look at your last three pieces of content. Are you talking about yourself, or are you reflecting a human experience?
- Identify your "Anchor": Find a physical object or a specific moment that symbolizes your message. Use it as a recurring motif.
- Study the "Rule of Three": Notice how Extra ads usually show a progression of three stages (Childhood, Adolescence, Leaving Home). It’s a classic narrative structure that feels "complete" to the human brain.
- Test your "Mute" appeal: Watch your video content without sound. If you can’t tell what’s happening or feel an emotion, the visual storytelling isn't strong enough yet.
The next time you see that dad in the truck or that couple in the hallway, don't just watch it. Analyze it. See how they use color, timing, and sound to make you care about a piece of latex and sugar. It’s not just an ad; it’s a lesson in human psychology.