Food Bears

Bears are great for advertising food, like Paddington Bear, Cookie Bear and offcourse the Gummi Bears.

Cookie Bear

Cookie Bear, also known as CB, is a character who first advertised for Hudson and later for biscuit company Griffins.

In the early 1970s, advertising agency Carlton-Carruthers du Chateau developed Cookie Bear for the New Zealand biscuits company Hudson. Cookie Bear was used for black-white commercials on television. A man in a bear costume played Cookie Bear, a lover of cookies who thought that Hudson was the best brand.

Cookie Bear soon became popular and widely used for ads, on packaging and on a growing number of promotional items. In 1975, John Berry even wrote a children’s book, ‘The Adventures of Cookie Bear’. At the peak of his popularity, the Cookie Bear Club was joined by 180,000 children, 1 in 4 children in New Zealand. Members of the club received a postcard on their birthday. Now, the Cookie Bear Club is still active on the Internet.

In 1989, Hudson merged with Griffin’s Food, who also acquired the copyright for Cookie Bear. Cookie Bear was still used in advertisements and on packaging, but not as much as before.

Gummi Bears

A Gummi Bear (or Gummy Bear) is a small candy with a rubbery texture, similar to a Jelly Baby in the English-speaking countries. The candy is approximately 2 centimetres (0.79 in) in size and has the shape of a bear. The Gummi Bear is one of many gelatine based candies that are made in a variety of shapes and colours.

The Gummi Bears originate from Germany, where they are popular under the name Gummibär or Gummibärchen. Hans Riegel Sr. is a candy manufacturer based in Bonn, who in 1920 founded the company Haribo. In 1922 he made the Tanzbären (Dancing Bears), a forerunner of the famous Goldbären (Gold Bears) which were first produced in 1967. Another major manufacturer is the German company Trolli, which sells the candy under the name of Gummi Bears.

The traditional Gummi Bear consists of a mixture of sugar, glucose syrup, starch, gelatine and colouring and flavouring agents. The success of the Gummi Bears has led to many other gummi products: rings, worms, frogs, cherries, peaches and even Smurfs.

Paddington Bear & Marmite

In 2007, Paddington Bear began making commercials for Marmite.