Remember the mints you used to eat when you were a kid?
It's the old-fashioned mint with a hole in the middle.
I don't know when it began, mints swept through various restaurants like a torrential rain, and people also had the habit of using mints to freshen their breath after tea.
In fact, in the middle of the 18th century, peppermint became popular in Western Europe in the form of drugs.
At that time, peppermint was used to treat diseases such as diarrhea laryngitis, cholera chest tightness, nasal mucositis, and even doctors used it as an anesthetic.
It wasn't until later that peppermint began to be applied to toothpaste flavoring and oral cleansing.
So why is mints designed to look like a hole?
This is because mint producers want to cut corners, or is there really another reason, and next, I will share the key to it.
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Many people think that the earliest producer of this kind of circle-shaped mints is "Baolu".
1939 was the year of the birth of Baolu Mints, when their slogan was "The mint with the hole", which literally translates to " Mints with a circle"
In fact, as early as 1912, there was a man named "Clarence Crane" in Cleveland, Ohio, who came up with the brilliant idea of combining hard candy with mint, and the candy at that time was generally a charlene, so that it would melt easily in the summer.
This novel idea not only solves the problem of existing candy intolerance to heat, but also brings people a cool summer taste.
Clarence Crane's idea was quickly implemented, and they named the candy "Life Savers."
(Pictured below is a product promotion for Life Savers in 1917))
What is clear is that Baolu is an imitator.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" data-track="71" > mints killed many people</h1>
As you can see from the 1917 propaganda map, the Life Savers at this time already had that familiar hole.
But the original Life Savers were solid, and it was originally called "Lifeguard", not "Lifebuoy".
First of all, we must clarify the main audience of candy food, most of the people who love to eat sugar are children, and children eating sugar is not so "regular".
Therefore, after this solid mint hairstyle, there are many children, because of improper chewing, there is a situation of being stuck in the throat of the sugar card, which triggers the "mint massacre", and many children are suffocated.
The Life Savers Sugar Factory quickly realized the problem and improved it, so that there was a hole in the middle of the mints.
Because of the existence of this hole, even if the child is stuck in the throat of the sugar card, they can still breathe and persist until the sugar is removed.
As for whether this method is really effective, no one goes back to taking the child's life to verify.
But at that time, a nuclear physicist named "Ron Davis" tried to test this proposition with mathematical models.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" data-track="72" > hole-in mints will be sweeter</h1>
The researchers found that "the sweetness people feel when eating candy is directly proportional to the rate at which candy dissolves." ”
The problem of dissolution rate and sweetness perception, if it is to be explained scientifically, undoubtedly complicates the simple problem.
In fact, in life, we can find that when using hard candy, as long as the hard candy in the mouth dissolves faster, the taste of the hard candy itself will be more stimulating to people's taste buds.
The hole-in-the-hole design can increase the contact area between the mouth and the hard sugar, thereby accelerating the dissolution rate of the hard sugar.
Therefore, one of the purposes of maintaining this hollow design is also to increase the taste of mint hard candy.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" data-track="73" > add to the taste of mint</h1>
The 1988 Baolu Mints ad shows the mints making process, with a drill bit drilling a hole in the center of the mint block followed by a spray of green mint powder.
And this method undoubtedly contributes to the purification of the mint flavor.
People who like to eat mints will subconsciously look for cooler mints, and the population base that likes mints has a limited number, Baolu mints want a bowl of water flat, you can only change the hard candy itself on the basis of the ingredients, and then attach a layer of mint powder, increase the coolness of eating, I have to say that this idea is also very clever.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="05" data-track="74" > interesting</h1>
The reason why many children like this kind of candy is sometimes not because of how attractive its taste is, but because it is used to whistle or absorb cool breezes, and it has to be said that this design is indeed the source of happiness for countless people in childhood.
Perhaps the people who produced them did not expect such an effect, but it did not delay them from profiting from them.
"There are hearts that plant flowers and flowers that do not bloom, and willows that are planted without hearts." Now that this design has become the sentiment of countless people, it is even more unlikely to change.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="06" data-track="75" > product features</h1>
Countless people wonder why there are holes in the mints, and countless people put forward their own ideas, and then they are refuted by others one by one.
This phenomenon is placed in today's traffic and heat.
The final winner of this "sword of tongue" will only be, then, the producer of mints.
In the end, why there is a hole, there is still no convincing statement for everyone, but everyone remembers this "mint with a circle".
Who's to say that such a brand marketing case is not successful?
In 1931, the British company Life Savers sold 2.28 million bales, but the ensuing social unrest caused by World War II caused the company to collapse, and it was not until 1947 that it was re-licensed to produce again.
And Baolu took advantage of this time difference to support itself, even the head did not have to move, the ready-made design and ready-made marketing strategy left by the predecessors, the time and place were favorable, and the Baolu at that time became a "pig standing on the wind outlet".
Even today, Baolu still occupies an important position in the mints market.
Nowadays, many merchants will give away mints, and few people can go back to buy it except for its lovers.
Do you remember what you first bought mints for?