Through strong brand distinctiveness and consumer support, Hummel had built 12 million in sales. During the asses diet candy was at an all-time high, varying in flavors such as caramel, chocolate and mint. These sugary candies misled the public into belief of this dieting method. As the Hummel was making money on this unique branding commodity on the contrary of an epidemic that was treating and devastating by the masses was introduced to the consumer. In the start of the sass’s there was a similar name the Andy shared but a different meaning.
AIDS compared to the “ black death” has the world nervous. The effects of the two oddly the same and name association similar, left the public concerned. However, Hummel was determined to convince the consumer by having celebrity Michael Bolton speak on their behalf “ office spades principle of AIDS is the one that sucks, so they’re the ones that should change. ” Yet, this did change the American peoples view. The company tried many attempts to rebuild their brand by changing their name to “ Diet Adds: The candy, not the disease” to fit consumer needs and fashion the suppressants differently.
Hummel, should have not tried to rebuild the brand name rather changed it and safe the identity that their consumers trusted and recognized. Instead, Hummel was resistant to name change to late in the game losing 50% of the profits they have made. The company never recovered and soon after in 1986 the company went out of business.