Did you know that the Canadian brand Thrills chewing gum wasn't originally offered in a "soap" flavour?
It's true.
Originally produced in London, Ontario by the O-Pee-Chee Company (the hockey card folks), back in the 1940s Thrills was available in a variety of flavours.
Peppermint, spearmint, and cachou were the lineup, the latter being closest to the "soap" flavour that was ascribed to it in the ensuing decades.
It was never meant to taste soapy however the cachou variety was what the Thrills we know today was originally supposed to taste like. Traditionally this is a flowery licorice flavour, much like the breath mints SenSen offer, or the British candies Parma Violets.
In the 1990s O-Pee-Chee sold the Thrills brand and manufacturing was moved to Spain, where it is still produced to this day.
It’s now distributed by Tootsie Roll Canada and the only flavour they have is the one that people say tastes like soap. It's not clear at what point they decided to lean into the public perception, but the packaging now says "It still tastes like soap!"
The words on the packaging have changed and the packaging itself is slightly different (it's now a blister pack as opposed to a cardboard box) and it's available in stores all across Canada.
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