It was also the first sugarfree gum not to use saccharin, instead using the NutraSweet brand, a sweetener developed by G.D. Searle & Co. that had less bitterness and was believed to be safer in humans and laboratory animals; it was later reformulated with aspartame in 1997.The brand identity of Extra gum varies considerably in different markets, often having completely different flavours, logos and slogans for each country. Extra is currently the sponsor of the Mexico national football team.