Dual Vision: Looking Back Commercial Icons

Dual Vision: Looking Back Commercial Icons

Dual Vision: Looking Back Commercial Icons

While many iconic images have been created as part of a successful advertising campaign, some icons have a history that is as interesting as the products they support. For example, did you know that Doublemint Twins first appeared only as illustrations? They made their debut in a print ad for the famous gum in 1939 to communicate a double benefit: a "double" wax-coated paper seal and a "double peppermint" distillation process used to produce a sweeter, smoother taste. These pictorial twins became brand signatures and were drawn in hats that were always suitable for card advertisements and car posters.

It wasn't until 1960 that the first living twins appeared in television commercials. They sing interesting theme songs that encourage chewing gum to "double their fun" and "double their pleasure." A new pair of twins was thrown for advertising throughout the 1970s to the 1990s and the most recent was reintroduced in 2005 when Wrigley continued to offer pleasant variations on the double theme.

Now there is another type of twin associated with the minty taste of trademarks aged 90 years and over: Doublemint Twins mints. Like its namesake gum, it offers "double pleasure, double pleasure" but with a mixture of two flavors in one mint candy.

The new television ad is built on the legacy of a unique campaign and brand jingle, but with an unexpected touch when viewers are introduced to new twins - two very different people who dress the same as twins.