Perhaps you have seen them in an american movie or series, made of any plastic material or glass, with some bear-contours more or less successful. It is the honey bear shaped container. In a study conducted in the late twentieth century, it was stated that 15% of US honey was sold in this format.
According to some sources, the idea of the first honey dispenser shaped as a bear emerged in 1957, during a dinner held by Ralph and Luella Gamber, of Dutch Gold Honey company in Pensylvania, with friends beekeepers from California. Looking for new formats for honey packaging, bear shaped container was one of them, and matched. For sure it was influenced by Yogi Bear, teddy bears or Winnie the Pooh and his fondness for honey seems. If a bear likes honey, why not a honey bear ?, Ralph Gamber said. 50 years after this occurrence, they did a contest to put a name to this honeybear. They chose the name Nugget.
The first plastic honey bears were manufactured by the Californian company Admiral Plastics. As technology plastic injection was not fully developed,and it was quite common for packaging honey some honey drip in ears and nose. These early designs required another fun manual operation: paint the eyes and nose in the honey bear by hand, and sometimes even red lips
Other relevant facts about the honey bear container :
– Honey bear pand its patent in 1952. Edward Rachins registered his patent for this package before the idea came to Dutch Gold Honey company. Another case of concepts which comes in different ways and not copied?
– In 2010 a campaign was launched by the National Association of US Honey called «Save the endangered honey bear» with the aim of raising awareness to american society about substitutes like syrups with a small percentage of honey They could not be sold as honey and you should check this information on the label.
– The honey bear, inspiration for artists. From its humble beginnings as a container for honey, art has led to unexpected areas: soap dispensers, porcelain, printed in trays, necklaces, in wax candles, in openers or corkscrew devices…
– Honey bear collectors. All human activity is subject to collecting. Why not honey bears?
Today we recognize the honey bear container has become an icon of American culture and honey. We’ll always have the doubt, why the honey bee shaped packaging did not success?
