That explosive mixture of Diet Coke and Mentos candies has hit new heights, setting a Guinness World Record for the “Most Mentos and Soda Fountains.”

The event took place last week in the home market of Mentos parent Perfetti Van Melle USA: Fountain Square in Cincinnati.

TV, radio and print ads asked people to come to the square to participate. Since no record had previously been set, Guinness made the requirement that at least 100 geysers had to be set off. Five hundred people showed up to help out.

The people assembled along 12 rows of tables, each set with 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke and Mentos “loading tubes.” At the end of a countdown the geysers blew and the official world record was established at 504.

Will a challenge to break that record come anytime soon?

“Possibly in the future,” said Ryan Flom, senior account manager for Innova Marketing, which handles the tour and event. “At this time we’re just pretty happy that we got it done.”

The event was held during an eight-month-long tour that got underway in March. A video of the affair was posted on YouTube at YouTube.com/watch?v=qquSq-dLjNs.

The Absurdly Fresh tour will make stops in 56 markets to distribute millions of Mentos samples before ending in October. The tour uses a fleet of Saturn Sky convertible sports cars that have been wrapped in 3-D graphics that mimic Mentos’ packaging. Tour teams will take the cars to fairs, festivals, lifestyle and sporting events, as well as key retailers’ stores (Promo Xtra, March 9, 2007).

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