By Garland Pollard
So why is that everything American has to be made out of the country? Last weekend in White Stone, Virginia, we saw some nieces and nephews having fun with a bag of Dubble Bubble, and had to check the back of the package. It was there that we noticed that it was Made in Canada.
The world’s first bubble gum made in Canada? Does anyone else see a problem with this?
We hope we didn’t read that correctly.
Now, we know there are various reasons for this, namely sugar tariffs in the U.S., and all sorts of other restrictions that make life difficult. But is government any less oppressive in Canada or Mexico, where other sweets are made?
We think Dubble Bubble needs to be made in the U.S. Or else the company needs to protest whatever is keeping production away from here, and position itself as a brand in exile. There is another thing that is annoying. The Fleer name needs to return and be connected to Dubble Bubble. It doesn’t seem right without Fleer. We know there is a long story to Fleer’s separation from Dubble Bubble, but both are not the same without it.
Dubble Bubble is the world’s first bubble gum brand.
A bit of history:
It was invented in 1928 by Walter E. Diemer—an accountant at Fleer Company. After his retirement, Diemer admitted that the recipe was discovered by accident. The company founder, Frank Fleer in 1906, attempted to create a chewing gum which he calle
d Blibber Blubber.
Now we don’t want to criticize Concord Confections, the company that makes Dubble Bubble. Concord is part of Tootsie Roll Industries. Tootsie Roll has an excellent record of keeping all sorts of classic candy brands around, and list classic brands like Nik-L-Nip wax bottles, Razzles, Charleston Chew, Charms Blow Pops, Tootsie Roll Pops (who can forget the ad?), Andes, Junior Mints, Sugar Daddy, Wack-o-Wax fangs, Dots and our favorite, Crows. Tootsie actually purchased Concord in 2004 for $197 million, and they have done an excellent job with the product.
Except that it is not made in the U.S.A.
Frankly, we would like the gum to be made in America, preferably Philadelphia, and in a factory that is open for tours.
3 responses so far ↓
1 JM // Jul 19, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I think I know the answer!
Bob’s Candies, the maker of candy canes based in Georgia (where I live) in the past several years moved their production from Albany, Georgia, to Mexico.
At the time that Bob’s made this shift, company officials made the claim that raw materials– and specifically sugar– were more expensive in the United States than in other countries because of Federal government price supports for sugar growers.
So the Bob’s Candies folks sent production to Mexico.
The same may be true for Canada. The vending machine at my workplace here in Atlanta sells Nabisco products like Chips Ahoy made in Canada– even though Atlanta has long had a Nabisco plant on Murphy Avenue.
Other readers may have other ideas, but there’s my bet.
Keep up the great work with the site.
JM
2 Carousel Gumballs // Jun 12, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Ok, if you’re talking about bubble gum which is what Dubble Bubble is famous for… did you know that there are 3 major manufacturers of bubble gumballs in North America?
The first two companies, Dubble Bubble and Oak Leaf by SweetWorks, manufacture their products in Canada. The third company, Ford Gum, the owner of the Carousel brand, is the only large scale manufacturer of gumballs in the US. Yes – the good ole USA. Their products are manufactured in Akron, NY the old fashioned way.
So if you want to support an American company buy your gumballs from CarouselGumball.com. Shipped to you factory fresh.
3 Chris // Sep 29, 2010 at 12:07 am
With all the products made in foreign lands; at least its in a country that speaks English. Thats a first, outsourcing to Canada!
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