REGIONAL FOCUS - SINGAPORE
Chewing gum CHEWING GUM
THAT BANNED
MADE FOR A COUNTRY
Chewing gum is famously banned in Singapore. So, to mark the nation’s 60th birthday, BBH Singapore is introducing what could be the country’s first legal chewing gum. Kiran Grewal reports.
C
alled Unthinkables!, the “gum” looks, tastes, and chews like gum, but is made without a gum base. That technicality makes it legally
permissible, giving Singaporeans the full gum- chewing experience without risking a fine. The ‘gum’ was co-created with Irene Chan,
sugarcrafter and founder of Oni Cupcakes, who worked with BBH’s in-house Innovation Lab to prototype the perfect chew. The team tried over 60 combinations of exotic flavours and chewiness-enhancing ingredients to arrive at the final product. Made from a hyper-chewy flavoured candy that’s fully water-soluble, the product sidesteps Singapore’s strict gum ban while making a statement about the agency’s appetite for impossible ideas.
Why is a creative agency making chewing gum? Don’t worry, A.I. hasn’t left creative agencies seeking alternate business models. Unthinkables! is the agency’s showcase in disguise. Each unthinkable piece of gum comes with a printed QR code that links to an equally unthinkable piece of work from the agency’s portfolio. Such as Heinekicks, a viral and award-winning campaign for Heineken
that turned sneakers into beer-filled art. Or Trapped, a full-fledged horror film created to launch a travel insurance for income. BBH envisions the ‘gum’ as a way to spark
conversations about the creative potential of Unthinkable ideas – ideas that make the impossible possible and tackle business problems with fame-driving solutions. Sascha Kuntze, Chief Creative Officer at BBH Singapore, said: “It’s unthinkable to launch a chewing gum in Singapore. Just like it was unthinkable to design a puffer jacket for the tropics to launch an extra-refreshing beer. But that’s the point. Creativity lets us solve problems by making the impossible possible.” Kennedy’s Confection’s Editor, Kiran
Grewal, speaks exclusively to Natalie Shauna Tan (Junior Copywriter) and Jia Min Tan (Junior Art Director), to gain more insight about Unthinkables!
Developing a gum-like candy without a gum base is highly unconventional.
From a
formulation standpoint, what were the biggest technical hurdles? Traditional chewing gum relies on a rubbery gum base to provide bounce, elasticity, and
16 • KENNEDY’S CONFECTION • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2025
longevity. Remove that base, and you’re left with a confectionery puzzle: how do you create chewing gum without the actual gum? The prototyping process took more than 60 rounds of experimentation. Some iterations captured the taste of gum but lacked chewiness, while others felt more gummy than truly chewy. A further complication was the form factor — the thin, rectangular shape meant we couldn’t rely on sheer volume to deliver a lasting chew. At the same time, we needed to capture the visual look of gum. We were reverse- engineering a childhood memory, tricking the eater into feeling as though they were chewing real gum. That meant creating something that looked like gum, smelled like gum, tasted like gum, and, most
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