Gummy bears are a yearning for a happy life

【Global Times special correspondent in Germany Wang Juan】When it comes to famous candy in Germany, gummy bears must be indispensable. It is a bear-shaped gummy that is about 1.5 cm in a variety of colors and flavors. In 2020, Haribo, the family-owned company that invented and starred in the gummy bear business, celebrated its 100th anniversary. The company's advertising slogan, "Make kids and adults happy alike", is almost a household name in Germany, and today not only children love the cute bear shape of the gummies, but many adults are also fascinated by its fresh fruity flavor and chewy chewiness. Every time the Global Times reporter returns to China, he will bring some gummy bears to share with the children of relatives, and he will buy a bag for himself when he goes to the supermarket, and eat a few when he goes home to watch TV or write a manuscript, and his mood is relaxed and happy. However, also in 2020, Haribao's gummy bear production plant in eastern Germany was closed due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic, which made the local people very reluctant.

People set up a "monument" to remember the gummy bear factory

In the more than a year since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the tourism industry in Germany has almost stopped, and although the sales of gummy bears as a snack food in supermarkets have increased, the performance of sales channels such as airports and train stations as travel souvenirs has been dismal. At the end of last year, Haribo closed its branch in the town of Vilco-Haslau in Saxony for budgetary reasons, where 150 employees will have to leave by April this year.

This town of only 10,000 inhabitants has a long tradition of confectionery, and after German reunification, the factory was taken over by Haribao and became the producer of gummy bears in eastern Germany. In recent years, 1/3 of local business tax revenue has come from gummy bears. As a result, the decision to close factories is difficult to accept, both economically and emotionally.

After the factory announced its shutdown, local residents staged several protests, holding placards with slogans such as "Gummy Bears to stay in the East" to express their dissatisfaction. They also make "monuments" for gummy bears out of stone slabs and stones of various sizes, and lanterns with bears on them are lit in the square when it gets dark. The Germany Federal Employment Agency and the Saxony government are actively promoting the negotiation process for another well-known Germany confectionery company to buy the gummy bear factory and take over the old employees.

With a daily output of hundreds of millions, the annual production capacity goes around the earth 7 times

In 1920, confectioner Hans · Riegel opened his own confectionery workshop in Bonn, initially with a stove, a copper pot, a stirrer, a marble slab and a bag of sugar. Rigel took the first two letters from the first two letters of his surname, first name and the name of the city where he lived, and created the "Haribao" brand. Two years later, Hans developed a fruity gummy inspired by the "dancing bear" in the circus, which became the world-famous gummy bear.

After World War II, when the whole of Germany was shrouded in a depressed economy and a sense of war guilt, people needed sweet candy to hope for a happy life, and gummy bears became one of the most popular commodities at the time. In the 60s of the last century, "Dancing Bear" was officially renamed "Golden Bear". In 2007, a smiling expression was added to each cub's face. Gummy bears stand for "childlike happiness" in Germany. In Germany supermarkets, a 200-gram pack of gummies costs about 1 euro (about 7.8 yuan).

Today, Haribao has more than a dozen factories in Europe, and its products are sold in more than 100 countries. In Germany alone, Haribo produces more than 300 varieties of confectionery, accounting for nearly 60% of the gummy fruit candy market. However, the status of gummy bears has not been shaken by any other product to this day.

Before the pandemic, Haribo produced about 160 million gummy bears every day, and the gummies produced in a year could circle the globe seven times in a year. Each gummy pack comes in 6 colors: red, pink, orange, yellow, green, and white, representing 6 flavors of raspberry, strawberry, orange, lemon, apple, and pineapple, all dyed with natural fruit extracts, and with a juice content of more than 20%, it is very healthy. On the occasion of the 2008 European Football Championship and the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Gummy Bears was released in black, red and yellow to represent the Germany flag and a "fan" version in six new colors. In addition, gummy bears are available in vegan versions that use pectin instead of gelatin, which is made from animal bones, to maintain the elasticity of the gummies.

Children pick up acorns for candy

Since 1936, children in Bonn have been collecting chestnuts and acorns in the woods every autumn and exchanging them for gummy bears at the local Haribao factory, which will eventually be used as feed for wild animals. This ingenious marketing project has been running for decades and is not only an important tradition for the company, but also one of the most popular parent-child activities for local families. Since 2018, the headquarters of Haribo has been moved to Grafschaft in Rhineland-Palatinate, and the venue of the event has been changed.

There are also people who use colorful gummy bears as materials for artistic creation. Nuremberg-based gallerist Johannes · Codes, in order to dispose of unused frames, casually put together a pattern from the gummy bear on the workbench and hung the finished product in the window display, but it was sold a few days later. So, he used gummy bears to spell out masterpieces by artists such as Leonardo da ·, Andy, ·Warhol, etc., portraits of late stars such as Marilyn · Monroe, and cartoon characters in Disney animation. It takes 4 to 10 days to complete such a painting, consuming thousands of gummy bears of different colors. After the steps of sorting, pasting and dyeing the gummies, and finally brushing with varnish for protection, the work can be stored for a long time. The gummy bear painting was selling well, and even Haribao gave a special sponsorship of 500 kilograms of gummy bears for the idea.