Hubba Bubba
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Hubba Bubba is a brand of very soft bubble gum originally produced by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in the U.S. in 1979 but more recently produced in countries around the world. The main gimmick used to promote the gum is that Hubba Bubba is less sticky than other brands of bubble gum and so burst bubbles are easier to peel from your skin. The first portions of Hubba Bubba were produced in the traditional bubble gum flavour often referred to as Original, but different flavours of gum have been produced around the world. Many, but not all, of these flavours are based on fruit.
The earliest series of TV commercials for Hubba Bubba that aired in the United States were set in a Wild West town and featured a character known as the Gum Fighter, played by actor Don Collier. At the end of each commercial, the Gum Fighter declared, "Big bubbles, no troubles!" This was a reference to Hubba Bubba being less sticky than other brands. However, many believe that this hurt sales of Hubba Bubba, because bubble gum is supposed to be sticky. In the UK, football commentator Tony Gubba endorsed Hubba Bubba in TV commercials with the strapline "Have a Hubba Bubba with Tony Gubba".
Hubba Bubba was rumoured to use whale blubber to make their gum as it was seen as a cheap alternative to produce natural gum. It was taken from the idea of the Inuit Eskimo who would chew pieces of whale blubber almost like chewing gum. The blubber took quite some time to dissolve, so it helped pass the time and also gave the energy required to fight the cold.
The original bubble-gum flavour has been discontinued for many years in the United Kingdom, with only fruit based flavours available. In 2007, the flavours available in the UK are strawberry, orange and apple. [1], however, cola is also still available in some areas. Flavors available in Australia include cherry, cola, strawberry, lime, pineapple, apple, orange and watermelon. In 2004, flavours available in Croatia included lime, berry, cherry and generic fruit. Flavours available in Germany included cherry and cola. Flavours available in Canada included strawberry, grape, orange and blue raspberry. Other flavours seen over the years in various countries include lemon, cream soda, pineapple, cherry, peach, tropical, lime and watermelon.
At first, Hubba Bubba was only available in chunks, typically being sold in packets of five chunks, but packets of four chunks have been seen on sale in Croatia. More recently, it has been produced as shredded pieces of baseball, rolls of bubble gum tape, plastic jugs of crystals, boxes of tiny gumballs and stuffed with candy.
The Hubba Bubba brand was discontinued in the U.S. in the early 1990s, but was re-started in 2004, under the name of Hubba Bubba Max; chunks of this new gum are made from a combination of two flavours. However, Hubba Bubba continued for the Canadian market. In the US, commercials use the same stop-motion style used in the Chevron commercials and Chicken Run as the commercials are produced by Aardman animation. In Canada, commercials use cartoon characters named Hubba and Bubba. It was also used in the closing credits sequence on the popular YTV game show, Uh Oh!.
| Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company | |
|---|---|
| William Perez, CEO & president • William Wrigley, Jr. II, chairman | |
| Past CEOs and presidents: William Wrigley Jr. • Philip K. Wrigley • William Wrigley III • William Wrigley, Jr. II | |
| Chewing gum | |
| Airwaves • Big Red • Doublemint • Eclipse • Excel • Extra • Freedent • Juicy Fruit • Orbit • Spearmint • Surpass • Winterfresh | |
| Bubble gum and candy | |
| Alpine • Altoids • Big League Chew • Bubble Tape • Hubba Bubba • Life Savers • Creme Savers | |
| See also | |
| Wrigley Building • Wrigley Field (Chicago) • Wrigley Field (Los Angeles) • Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies • Wrigley Square | |
Annual revenue: $517 million USD (FY 2005) | Employees: 14300 | Stock symbol: NYSE: WWY | Website: www.wrigley.com/ |
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