Ever since the Newsweek article came out, (see section 6b) one of the most Frequently Asked Questions of us is "How can I get me one of them there Mentos T-shirts?" Well, after much deliberation, we've come up with the following: Find someone wearing the shirt, run them over with your car, take the shirt off them, then flash your roll of Mentos at them before they call the police.
Actually, Van Melle had offered Mentos T-Shirts a few years back. Apparently, there was a sticker that came with Mentos saying "For Free Mentos T-shirt, Call 1-800-33T-Shirt" A recording would tell you to send 10 Mentos wrappers in to get your free T-shirt. Sadly, this offer expired a number of years ago, and the 800 number has since been disconnected.
Katherine "Van Winkle" Ewald came up with an alternate method of acquiring a Mentos T-shirt. She found one at a Goodwill store for *shudder* 99 cents. For less than a DOLLAR she found Freshness of the utmost magnitude. (Sure, there's some blue paint on the front, but it's still a ruling shirt.) She reports that, on the back, the slogan "Fresh Goes Better" appears. By the way, don't even TRY to talk her out of it, she won't give it up.
(note: the cover has the guy with the bandana from commercial #7)Compilation (P) 1994 Minos-EMI S.A.
- 1: The Mentos Song: Fresh Goes Better
- 2: Cockney Rebel- Make Me Smile
- 3: Marc Almond- A Lover Spurned
- 4: The Specials (Feat. Rico, Dick Cuthell)- Ghost Town
- 5: The Proclaimers- I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)
- 6: The Knack- My Sharona
- 7: Talking Heads- Blind
- 8: Pat Benetar- Love is a Battlefield
- 9: Runrig- News from Heaven
- 10: Sunny- Stop!
- 11: Blondie- Heart of Glass
- 12: Billy Squire- The Stroke
- 13: Moon Martin- Bad Case of Loving You
- 14: Mink DeVille- Cadillac Walk
- 15: Huey Lewis and the News- Power of Love
- 16: Frankie Miller- Darlin'
- 17: Peter Tosh- Johnny B. Goode
Unfortunately, I haven't come across a copy of this CD here in the states. This one from Greece cost Emmanuel Athans 5000 drx (about 20 bucks.)
While in China, some friends of Alan Mackey attended a basketball game which was sponsored by Mentos. At this game, they had giant inflatable rolls of The Freshmaker! Alan's friends asked to buy one, and now he has one in his living room (They gave it to him for free.)Mentos hats
Steve Giles wasn't as lucky, though. He resides in Canada and has seen the balloons on display in stores, but has yet to acquire one.
During the make-your-own-Mentos-commercial contest in Australia, one of the prizes was a Mentos hat. This white baseball cap with a blue rim had the famous Big block lettering in blue, along with, in a red block with white letters: "The Freshmaker" (just like in the TV commercials!
Another prize available in Australia, this blue schoolbag made of foam-like material is quite the beauty. The Mentos logo consists of the word "Mentos" outlined in white, allowing the blue from the bag to spill into the outline. The bag itself has two compartments. The first compartment is pretty standard in size, allowing you to fit textbooks, or other luggage of your choice. The second compartment which, in America, might carry your pencils or a small day-planner, is actually quite big, and could hold a medium sized notebook. Made in Taiwan.
NOTE for a picture of the hat and backpack, please take a gander at http://www.pond.com/~uhjeff/hatpack1.html
Complete with the "Fresh Goes Better" thumbs-up logo, these are collectors items, also given out in Australia as a prize in the contest.
Another Australian item, but no word on if it's from the contest or not. According to Nick, the radio is "a tiny bit bigger than a normal roll of mentos" and there is a place at the top of the roll to plug in your headphones. Nick's parents own a Petrol station that sells Mentos, so they were able to aquire this prize, along with a:
A blue basketball with the Mentos logo. Check out a photo at http://www.pond.com/~uhjeff/bball.jpg
The Freshmaker Tour 99 Compliation CDs are available from www.mentos.com.
Four separate CD's featuring unsigned independent bands that played during 1998's Freshmaker Tour. Sadly, the Mentos theme is not on any of the compilations.
The CDs are still available from Amazon.com:
The Freshmaker Tour 99 t-shirts are available from www.mentos.com.
A blue t-shirt with a Mentos "Thumbs-Up" logo featuring the tour dates of the Freshmaker Tour 98. Not nearly as fresh as the no-longer-made official Mentos t-shirts, but they'll do for now.
