BUILDING A MARKET

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21147, 24 April 1934, Page 5

BUILDING A MARKET

CHEWING GUM IN JAI'AN

, The manner in which chewing Sum was introduced into Japan jas a profitable business was dej scribed to the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce yesterday by Mr J. A. Hyndman, a representative of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha. Mr Hyndman said he was greatly surprised to find New Zealanders pessimistic about the possibility of teaching Orientals the use of butter, and he gave the chewing gum example to show what enterprise could do in persuading a people to take something it was not accustomed to. The American chewing gum mag- | nate. William Wrigley, decided to j gamble 500,000 dollars in teach- ; ing Japan's population of D 0,000,000 : to acquire the chewing gum i hnbit. He sent, some of his most : efficient sales and advertising specialists. built a factory, and settled down , to the job of trying to introduce his product. After about two years they i found they could not conquer tiie market and they were about to shut . up shop and return to America, i At tiie last minute one of the salesi men suggested that the company might ; as well present a few boxes of the ; gum to the geisha girls in the teahouses. Parties were arranged in some of the principal tea-houses and boxes of gum were taken along. The salesmen demonstrated to the geishas that they could, after chewing Ihp I gum for a moment, make a peculiar | clicking noise by stretching the gum ! between the front upper and lower teeth and drawing breath llirough it I until it broke. This sensation so intrigued the geisha girls that they soon | became adepts at clicking. Others do- ' cided to try it. Consequently, Japan to-day was a ! "gum-chewing country." Wrigley s | factory was a success and two oilier factories were now manufacturing j profitably. | Timber from the Hindenburg. flagj ship of the German Fleet surrendered at the end of the war. has been on view at this year's British Industries Fair. It is being used in the making iof wood-craft products. Toll has also ! been taken of famous British battlc- ' ships, and visitors to the White City i have seen table-tops, made from the ' timbers of H.M.S. Ganges, the last i jailing ship to serve as a sea-going ■ flagship: H.M.S. Terrible, whose guns helped to relieve Ladysmith; and i H.M.S. Birmingham, of Jutland and Dogger IJank fame. Cooper-craft on ; a serious scale is a new industry at ! Dursley, Gloucestershire. It started as i a means of using up the waste products ' left from the making of wooden butterI churns. As the demand grew it be- ] came necessary to buy timber specially I for the purpose, and it was found that j the old, highly seasoned timber from | the derelict battleships gave the best results.