BELGRADE, Serbia - By placing a mosaic of 137,264 photos of smiling faces in Belgrade Arena on October 15, Jelena Jankovic and Wrigley's chewing gum Orbit have entered the Guinness Book of World Records.
The campaign was organized by Wrigley and promoted by Jankovic, who was chosen earlier this year to be the brand ambassador for their most popular gum. From March 1 to September 20, photos were gathered and placed into the biggest smiles mosaic in the world, measuring over 930 square meters. They beat the previous record, set in the UK last year, by 23,271 smiles.
More than 80,000 smiles were collected by Orbit's "Smiling Patrols" this past summer at the bank of the Danube river in Zemun and Ada Ciganlija.
Jankovic, famous for her smile, said she enjoyed participating in the campaign and demonstrating to the world how really beautiful things take place in Serbia.
"I kept checking the internet to see the number of photographs grow and I was very happy to realize I was helping motivate all these people to help us enter the Guinness Book of World Records with their smiles," Jankovic said. "A smile is and has always been such an important part of my personality. Up to now it was sort of my trademark, but now that we have broken the world record, it will become the trademark of Serbia as well. Helping Serbia enter the Guinness Book of World Records was of huge importance for me, because from now on I'll be able to say my country is known not only for its tennis players, but for the biggest number of smiles in the world. And I was part of all that!"
"Our JJ added a very special tone to the campaign, because she has, in the best possible way and with her own example, demonstrated to the citizens of Serbia how success is achieved and how we can break the Guinness record in making a photo mosaic," Wrigley's Dragan Svilanovic said. "The task was not at all easy but we've succeeded. We can say right now that Serbia, helped by Orbit and Jelena Jankovic, is celebrating its big smiling victory!"
