JUICY FRUIT
THE BIRTH OF JUICY FRUIT
Juicy Fruit gum was created by The Wrigley Company and was introduced in 1893 at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. The gum was not originally sold; instead, it was included as a freebie for the company's baking powder product. The free gum was far more popular than the baking powder; it was sweet and fruity at a time when gum was mostly mint-flavored. The company used non-traditional ways to market Juicy Fruit. William Wrigley Jr. famously used direct-mail campaigns by sending millions of sticks of gum for free. They first sent free gum to the entire city of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1906, then to every person listed in every telephone directory across the United States in 1915. This marketing campaign worked, and the popularity of Juicy Fruit soared within 10 years. Annual sales rose rapidly to $7 million, making the brand a household name.
JUICY FRUIT THROUGH THE YEARS
Juicy Fruit was extremely popular, but the brand had to be pulled from the market during World War II in 1944 due to war rations the company then redirected 100% of its production of Juicy Fruit and its other gum lines to the U.S. military. It was included in C-rations, K-rations, and life raft survival kits. Afterwards, Juicy Fruit was reintroduced in 1946 in a new neon yellow package. Later in 1974, Juicy Fruit made history at a grocery store in Troy, Ohio, by being the first product ever scanned with a (UPC) barcode, proving that barcodes could be used on even the smallest products. Overall, Juicy Fruit became an iconic product in American history that is still popular to this day.
