As a play on the word "double" in the name, one of the most notable aspects of this brand is the advertising campaign featuring identical twins. Beginning in 1939 with stylized illustrations of twins, advertisements continued with print ads and later television commercials, featuring actual twins as spokespersons. From 1959, the original "Doublemint Twins" were 21-year-old Jayne and Joan Knoerzer of Hammond, Indiana, appeared in advertisements for Doublemint, until 1963 when Joan became pregnant. The company, however, continued sporadically to promote the campaign, which included twins Jennie and Terrie Frankel in the late 1960s; later "Doublemint Twins" included June and Patricia Mackrell through the 1970s, Patricia and Cybil Barnstable, Denise and Dian Gallup, Cynthia and Brittany Daniel, Tia and Tamera Mowry in the early 90s, Heidi and Alissa Kramer, figure skaters Pamela and Jeremy Green, and Jean and Elizabeth Sagal. The Sagal twins enjoyed a brief run as the stars of a sitcom, Double Trouble, in 1984. Later twins projected more sex appeal in keeping with trends in American advertising; the Barnstable twins were later asked to pose for Playboy due to their popularity as spokeswomen for the gum. In 1987, Denise and Dian Gallup spoofed their roles as the Doublemint Twins in cameo roles in the Mel Brooks film, Spaceballs.
"Doublemint" trademark denied in EU
In 2004, the European UnionCourt of Justice ultimately denied Wrigley's request for trademark status on the name "Doublemint"; the Court found that the mark DOUBLEMINT was descriptive of the product and in violation of trademark law.
Wrigley began running Doublemint Twin commercials again in 2005 with a new set of twins, Natalie and Nicole Garza, who were dressed in old-fashioned clothes. They drove a tandem bike through various modern day situations, singing about the complexity of modern life and touting the joy of the simple pleasure of Doublemint gum.
Wrigley also began an open casting call for people to be in their ad campaigns. The call goes out to not only actual twins but also, literally, anyone and their dog. Many twins have applied, but so have people and their friends, their pets, even inanimate objects. These can be seen at the official Doublemint Gum website. Since then, the Wrigley Company has run various commercials with some of the new twins, as well as Natalie and Nicole from the 2005 campaign..
