We've all enjoyed a handful of delicious promotional gummy bears from time to time. After all, who can resist a yummy fruity candy? Especially when it comes in all sorts of colours and flavours. But do you know the history of these delicious candies? We decided to find out more about how gummy bears came to be one of the most popular lollies on the international market!

The History of Promotional Gummy Bears

Gummy bear candy as we know it today was invented by Hans Riegel in the 1920's. Riegel and his wife started out making hard sweets rather than soft candies. These treats tasted nice, but they weren't very colourful or eye-catching. It wasn't until Riegel saw some trained performing bears at the street market in 1922 that he became inspired to conjure up a whole new kind of chewy candy.

Custom Made Lollies and Candies

Most lollies during this time were made in circular shapes, with little innovation in design or packaging. Riegel's new sweets were the large Tanzbär (or dancing bears) which soon evolved to the cute little Goldbär (Gold-Bears) that we see today. What made these lollies stand out was their cute little bear shape, colourful soft bodies, and delicious sweet flavourings. Riegel's company was Haribo, and even now Haribo Gold-Bears are the standard by which other gummy candies are measured. Riegel's life wasn't too easy over the years, the Second World War led to the decimation of the manufacturing wing of Haribo, and after Riegel's death in 1945 the company was passed on to his eldest son.

But the love of gummy bears hasn't faded over the years - Haribo manufactures over 100 million bears every day! Even here at Cubic Promote, we're very proud to have authentic Haribo Gummy Bears in our range of promotional gummy lollies. You just can't beat the tried and true brands people have loved for nearly 100 years!

Gummy bear history first spotted here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gummy_bear

Article Updated 23/01/18: New header added, spelling errors amended.