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Haribo Goldbears, the world’s first gummy bears
- m-p-3 4y agoFor some reason I always thought Haribo was a Japanese product because of the name.
- pvg 4y agoIf you get the jingle lodged in your brain, you'll never forget or escape their profound Germanness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9YuOuP44Rc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9YuOuP44Rc
- TedDoesntTalk 4y agoIs is somewhat remarkable how many successful candy companies are German or have German roots. I wonder why. My own great grandparents, who were German, worked as chocolatiers.
- jamiek88 4y agoChemistry and food are very similar and Germany was/is the world leader in that. Most chemists can read German as a result.
- pbj1968 4y agoLol no.
- pvg 4y agoIt's certainly not the only thing but it helps to have developed things like an urban, non-agrarian middle class fairly early. It churns out more specialized artisans and the customers for their wares.
- Lio 4y agoI would guess that having an established pork processing industry also helped as a ready supply of gelatine byproduct.
- lisper 4y agoFor the benefit of those of you who don't speak German, the lyrics of the jingle are "Haribo makes children happy, and grownups as well".
- dylan604 4y agoNot once ever have I been able to open a bag that easily!
- jinwoo68 4y agoMany people used to think that Nokia was a Japanese company too.
- jmspring 4y agoFinnish tire and paper product company Amongst its early origins
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 4y agoThey make the best snow tires
- croes 4y agoAnd rubber boots
- agumonkey 4y agoNot stranger than card manufacturers turning video game giant or pencil brand making plasma TV. It's fun to see how companies evolve.
- jhbadger 4y agoApparently Nokia's first product was toilet roll!
- riedel 4y agoActually they have been ''globalized': They moved from Bonn (as still in the name) a few km across the state border to to Rhineland Palladia. At least that is what I saw driving by on the highway. I guess to save taxes. Another funny thing is that as a vegetarian I realized quite late that this is a meat product (gelantine). It remains the only "meat" I eat kind of regularly because, as mentioned somewhere, they are still the best.
- xwdv 4y agoThat would probably make you a gelatinarian, not a vegetarian.
- JetAlone 4y agoGelatin is a by-product, eating it supports the profitability of animal slaughter. Yet still, there seems to be some distance between eating it and the behaviour of that one guy in Scott Pilgrim who loses his veganchad super powers because "Chicken's not vegan?".
- colordrops 4y agoIt's an animal product, plain and simple. To base ethics on whether the product is in the critical path for profitability doesn't seem much different from vegan chicken eaters.
- xwdv 4y agoNope. If you eat it I don’t think you can really be a vegetarian. You cannot launder food until it becomes vegetarian. If an animal was killed off for you to consume a product, it is not vegetarian and consuming one won’t make you vegetarian. To me it’s no different than “vegetarians” who still indulge in bacon because it happens to be really tasty. It is not too late though to give up gelatin based gummy bears and eat ethically the rest of your life.
- JetAlone 4y agoOr we can choose to reply as sanctimonious radicals. I'm experienced at working that angle too.
- pimlottc 4y agoAlways seemed Mexican to me for some odd reason.
- steve_adams_86 4y agoSimilar to Jarritos maybe? Colourful sweet things with almost-rhyming names.
- Sharlin 4y agoAFAIK Western-style sweets/candies aren’t very popular or common in Japan, at least historically.
- Lio 4y agoWhat about Kit-Kat? That's a British chocolate bar that the Japanese seem to have taken that to their hearts at least.
- GekkePrutser 4y agoException that confirms the rule? And the Japanese relationship to KitKat is pretty different from ours :) I agree it's quite peculiar :D
- jansan 4y agoIn case someone overlooked it in the article, the name HARIBO comes from HAns RIedel BOnn (company owner's name and location of company).
- usrusr 4y agoNot Riedel, Riegel, with a g, which would ironically be a literal translation of the "bar" in "chocolate bar" which they don't make. Immortalized in the name of the fictional chocolate bar company Riegel Klotz, where Riegel is the product, Klotz is the former family name (but describing the shape of the product just as well) while the current name of the family is Drögel with would roughly translate to "Bland Bar".
- jansan 4y agoWow, I got this wrong for at least ten years.
- usrusr 4y agoAnd I got Riegel Klotz wrong, for a similar time: thought that it was Riegel Drögel, when it's in fact Riegel Klotz and Riegel Drögel only appears in a few lines. Only corrected myself through Google-checking my writing here.
- currysausage 4y agoDoesn't the "L" of the "KLOTZ" neon sign also flicker at some point, strongly evoking the connotation "KOTZ" ("PUKE"), just as Evelyn Hamann feels slightly overwhelmed after tasting too many Klotz-Riegel? I just love how Loriot managed to combine immature puns and insinuations and profound character studies into surreal pieces of art that cause whole families to laugh until one cries. May he rest in peace.
- usrusr 4y agoNever noticed (or never committed to memory after noticing), but yeah, how could that opportunity be left untapped. He was a perfectionist engineer of jokes, the entertainer equivalent to that proverbial Scala coder who'd rewrite the entire thing if he came up late with an idea to monadify away yet another side effect. May he rest in peace, and may upcoming generations memorize that movie just like we did (it was already twenty years old when I started falling for it)
- mcphage 4y agoAlso, still the best.
- rblatz 4y agoI don’t really like them, too hard and the flavors lacking in my opinion. Albanese 12 flavor gummy bears though… those are my jam. https://www.amazon.com/Albanese-Candy-Flavor-Gummi-Assorted/dp/B00OYPFC46 https://www.amazon.com/Albanese-Candy-Flavor-Gummi-Assorted/...
- TylerE 4y agoFunny... I find the Albanese rather sickly sweet and dry.
- legostormtroopr 4y agoThis comment is extra amusing for Australians given our recent election.
- tannhaeuser 4y agoIdk, personally I (and the kids I'm giving those) prefer other Haribo candies, like Tropi Frutti, Color-Rado, and wildly strange seasonal creations, especially if made of natural ingredients only.
- ahartmetz 4y agoThe version with real juice ("Saft") is the best IMO.
- taspeotis 4y agoRelated https://www.amazon.com/review/R2JGNJ5ZPJT4YC https://www.amazon.com/review/R2JGNJ5ZPJT4YC (NSFW)
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- OttPeterR 4y agoa classic
- dylan604 4y agoIn what way was that NSFW?
- virtue3 4y agoread the comments
- dylan604 4y agoI mean, what do you think I did? It is a link directly to a review of a product. There is nothing in that review that is NSFW. If I ever work for a company where this is considered NSFW, then consider my notice of it being NSFW also my 2 week notice of leaving that company.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoThis one was my fave: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RZFIYJTPVUZ94/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B000EVOSE4 https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RZFIYJTPVUZ94/ref...
- lqet 4y ago> Needless to say, I missed my flight.
- lqet 4y ago
- sj4nz 4y agoOddly enough, the first time I ever had gummy bears was at the Smithsonian.
- wly_cdgr 4y agoI now like Albanese the best, but I will always have a special respect and affection for Haribo. Happy Birthday to them!
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoAlbanese over Black Forest?
- wly_cdgr 4y agoPersonally, yeah. But this is a rare case where I am happy to respect and celebrate all preferences, because what really matters is brand-agnostic gummi bear supremacy. Black Forest are great too
- comex 4y agoBut why were they renamed from Dancing Bears to Goldbears? The name has always puzzled me, since I would expect it to refer to a yellow candy, when in fact yellow is only one of the multiple different colors of gummi bears mixed in the package. I wonder if it used to be different; the article doesn’t say.
- tmikaeld 4y agoMaybe it was better received in Germany at the time? I'd be surprised if they didn't make studies and test groups
- eru 4y agoThey renamed in 1960. Not sure whether studies and test groups were a thing in West Germany at the time?
- tmikaeld 4y agoHard to say how it looked in Germany specifically, but consumer research models where established at that time and inspired the focus groups we have today. I→C→A→B→S Where formed in the beginning of 1960s. Input (Advertising, word-of-mouth etc) Cognitions (Belief/perception of brand) Affect (Likeness/preference of the brand) Behavior (Purchase of the brand) Satisfaction (post-purchase evaluation)
- eru 4y agoI did a bit of research and posted it at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31566775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31566775
- ajmurmann 4y agoDancing Bears/Tanzbären is a super sad and kinda offensive name. Just look up photos of some actual dancing bears and read how they used to be treated.
- oharapj 4y ago
- gambiting 4y agoAnd for some reason that I literally can't understand, the original gold bears are almost unavailable in UK. British people seem to only like starmix(with those foam-like gummies) and tang fastic with its sour coating. I've only been able to find regular gold bears in the halal version in the "world foods" section at some supermarkets. Like, I get that countries get their regional versions, but why isn't the classic available here???
- sdze 4y agoMaybe in UK most of the people don't eat pig (gelatin). Haribo is not vegan and contains pig substance.
- bb123 4y agoWhy would most people in the UK not eat pig?
- sdze 4y agoIt was just an idea...
- bb123 4y agoI know, I asked to try and understand the rationale behind it.
- refurb 4y agoRather than "most people in the UK" it could be a "what's the most universally accepted product across the globe"? There are several major products that are Kosher or Halal despite the biggest market being the West. Snapple Ice Tea is a good example of a Kosher product. The only rationale I can think of is if you are going to mass produce some food product, better to start with something you can sell everywhere, than start with a Western version and then change (or add to) your product line later.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- formerkrogemp 4y ago"When I die, as I will, choking on gummy bears, please tell everyone that I died by a bear attack to preserve my dignity. Thank you."
- imadethis 4y agoThere used to be a policy that children could collect a bag of chestnuts and exchange them for free Haribo at the factory or office in Germany. It was nominally to feed the deer or horses on the Riegels’ estate. I went to school in Bad Godesberg as a kid, and getting ahold of conkers was much easier than convincing my parents that stopping at the factory was a good decision.
- dual_dingo 4y agoAccording to german Wikipedia, this still happens but has moved from Bonn to Grafschaft. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haribo#Verschiedenes https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haribo#Verschiedenes
- dontbenebby 4y agoThank you OP! I love it when even without a click to a possibly tracker laden URL I can learn something just from the headline of an HN post served over HTTPS :-)