Say what you will, we think the Singapore government’s policy of banning bubble-gum chewing in public was a sensible move.

Alas, the Indians are not half as smart as the Singaporeans, who got their Independence 18 years after the Indians.

As bubble-gum sales go flat in the U.S., the MNCs have turned their sights to attacking Indian kids with their hideous product.

Today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has an interesting story on the bubble-game plans of the big multinational corporations:

Cadbury Schweppes PLC, the world’s biggest candy maker by sales, is intensifying the race to capture India’s growing bubble-gum market. Cadbury’s Bubbaloo, launched there in July, joins rivals Boomer gum, made by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. of the U.S., and Big Babol, made by Italian company Perfetti Van Melle SpA, to try to entice children, the main chewers of bubble gum.

One of the vilest products to emerge out of man’s imagination, we still can’t understand why both the young and old, boys and girls, rich and poor are slave to this horrid viscous chemical made from petroleum-based polymers.

Would you drink petrol? No, right. So, why would you want to put bubble-gum into your mouth?

As long as there are dumb, bovine folks in the Third World, MNCs have no cause for worry and can keep chewing on their profits.

Cadbury, Wrigley and Perfetti have ambitious plans for the Indian market, according to the folks at WSJ:

India is the latest battleground in a series of clashes between Cadbury and Wrigley, the world’s two biggest makers of chewing gum in terms of sales. Until now, Wrigley and Perfetti, which makes the candy Mentos, have dominated the $70 million Indian bubble-gum market, with market shares of 46% and 41%, respectively, according to market-research group Euromonitor. Cadbury says its goal is a double-digit market share in gum within a year.

Developing countries like India figure big in the plans of most multinational corporations across the board, be it cars, watches, movies, pens, soft drinks, washing powder or bubble-gum. As the Journal piece observes:

India is part of a bigger push by Cadbury to expand in emerging markets, particularly at a time when Chief Executive Todd Stitzer is under pressure to bolster Cadbury’s candy business, after announcing this spring his plans to spin off the company’s soft-drink brands, Dr Pepper and 7UP, in order to focus on gum and candy. About 32% of its £4.8 billion ($9.8 billion) in total confectionery sales comes from emerging markets.

It boggles the imagination that bubble-gum sales in India are up a whopping 29% over the last five years.