Where does bubble gum originate? Who made bubble gum? What was the first bubble gum brand? What is the most popular bubble gum brand today? These are all questions that people often wonder when thinking about gum. Gum is something that is chewed around the world and there is a lot of history behind it, such as who invented it, the first company that started producing it, and the first people who chewed it. The history of bubble gum goes all the way back to the ancient times. The ancient Mayans chewed “chicle”. Chicle in Spanish means gum. They got this “chicle” from a tree called a Sapodilla tree.
They chewed chicle to help quench their thirst and help fight hunger. In North America, Indians chewed spruce tree resin and when the Europeans came over they started chewing Spruce tree resin also. John Curtis developed the first Spruce tree gum by boiling resin then cutting it into strips and coating them with cornstarch so they wouldn’t stick together. When he realized that it didn’t taste very good, he changed the ingredients to Paraffin wax instead. Thomas Adams got some chicle from Mexico and brought it back to America, but instead of using it for chewing, he wanted to use it to make a sort of rubber.
When he realized that it wouldn’t work, he started to make a better chewing gum with it instead. Thomas Adams made a big difference with using chicle in chewing gum. In the 20th century gum made William Wrigley Jr. a very rich man. He started a very popular company that people still use today, Wrigley. Another person that was rich because of gum is Frank Feer. Mr. Feer was the competition to William Wrigley Jr.. Feer’s company started around 1885. In 1906, he made a gum called Blibber-Blubber, but it was to sticky. He hired an employee named Walter Diemer, who made a formula for the first bubble gum.
That formula is now called Dubble Bubble bubblegum. Today gum is sold all over the world and in all different flavors. William Wrigley Jr. started very small. In 1891, he moved from Philadelphia to Chicago. When he moved, he sold soaps and baking powder. When he sold soaps or baking powder, he would give a free stick of gum with it. He noticed that the gum was more popular than the soaps so he decided that he would sell the gum instead. In 1893, William made a company and introduced two brands: Wrigley’s Spearmint and Juicy Fruit. After finding success selling gum, Mr.
Wrigley knew he had to engage in an aggressive marketing campaign to reach as many clients as he could. In order to do this, Wrigley had to mortgage everything to be able to raise the funds, which he did. The campaign proved to be a huge success, making Wrigley gum a household name. William created a company which respected employee rights and employees with benefits. Working at Wrigley, employees had Saturday and Sunday off. A job at Wrigley was a desirable job. During the Great Depression, William set minimum wage levels so workers could have security during times of economic uncertainty.
In 1915, William had the first-ever nationwide campaign. For this campaign he shipped sticks of gum to every address in the U. S. phone book. After the phonebook campaign William’s son was named president of the company and helped do the campaigning. Phillip (William’s son) put ads on the radio and put ads on the “funny pages” in the newspaper. From 1932 to 1962 the company hired an artist named Otis Shepard. Otis made the iconic Doublemint twins. During World War II Wrigley was cut off from all his ingredients for making gum. When they stopped the supply Wrigley made Orbit gum, a wartime substitute.
After World War II, Wrigley introduced two new brands: Big Red and Freedent. After they made these two brands they began a global expansion to get their product to as many customers as possible. Between 1960 and 2000 Wrigley made nine new facilities worldwide. The United States isn’t chewing gum like it used to. Chewing gum sales have dropped 11% since 2009. It is expected to fall another 4% in the next five years. Last year Americans bought more than 3. 7 billion dollars worth of gum. A big concern for people in the gum business is sugаred gum.
Sugared gum has gone down in sales drastically. The 21st century has been bad for sugared gum. Sales for sugared gum have split in half. People only bought 1. 1 billion dollars of sugared gum. Sugar free gum is different. People bought more than 3 billion dollars worth of it. There are a lot of different gum flavors. Contrary to what you make think, bubble gum flavor is one of the least popular. Bubble gum has fallen in popularity from going to America’s 6th favorite flavor to it’s 10th. The three most popular brands are Trident, Orbit, and Extra.
Trident made 657. million dollars in 2013. The first Trident was manufactured was in 1960 by American Chicle. It was a sugared gum designed to help with dental health. In 1964 Trident switched to a sugar-free gum. Orbit is the second most popular brand. Orbit made 551. 1 million dollars in 2013. Orbit was launched in 1944 by Wrigley. It stopped producing gum and then started to produce again in 1976. Extra is the third most popular brand. Extra made 488. 7 million dollars in 2013. Extra was launched in 1984 by Wrigley. It was the first sugar-free gum launched by Wrigley.
Gum has been around for many years. Gum has been used by people from the ancient mayans to european settlers. There is hundreds of flavors from spearmint to bubble gum. The people who contributed to gum from William Wrigley Jr. to Frank Fleer and Walter Diemer. Beginning companies from Wrigley’s gum to Dubble Bubble bubblegum. There is hundreds of brands for gum from Trident to Extra. Gum comes in different shapes and sizes. Different companies and founders. Different flavors and colors. One thing will always stay the same, gum will always be for chewing.
