Chappies

Chappies is a brand of bubblegum introduced in South Africa in the late 1940s.^[1] Chappies was created by Arthur Ginsburg while working for Chapelat Sweets, a Johannesburg based confectionery manufacturer, as a competitor for the well established Wicks bubblegum.^[2]

The innovations of Arthur Ginsburg launched the Chappies brand into a position where the name Chappies became synonymous with the word bubblegum. The first innovation was the business model. While the Wicks branded gum was sold for 1c per piece, the smaller Chappies gum was sold at 1c for two pieces. This led to Chappies gaining value as currency as shopkeepers would give change in the form of gum. The second innovation was the inclusion of "Did you know" trivia on the inside of the wrappers.^[1]

By the late 1970s the brand had spread to Zambia, the Congo area, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and held a local market share of 90%. It was at this time that Ginsburg and his partners decided to sell the brand to Cadbury, which still owns the brand today.^[3]

In early 2008 the marketing firm "Berge Farrel" was contracted by Cadbury to rejuvenate the now almost 50-year-old Chappies identity. Their changes included redesigned packaging as well as an updated yet still recognizable mascot, the Chappies Chipmunk.^[4][5]

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