70s pack:
BLU-TACK has always gone its own way: when the young people were dressing in sequins and having their hair feathered, the early Blu-Tack® pack was simple, classy, and chose not to wear make-up.
80s packs:
Shoulder pads and leggings were just two fashion trends that had absolutely no effect on the revamped Blu-Tack® pack design. Sort of soothing, really; somewhere to rest your eyes.
90s packs:
New pack designs got the finger (er, and another finger and a thumb) and the more familiar modern pack style took shape. This pack was often to be seen modelling clothes in the popular home shopping catalogues.
We were just messing with you before…
Like many great inventions (fire, penicillin, turning base metals to gold) Blu-Tack® was discovered by accident while Bostik chemists were developing a new industrial adhesive.
Part of the development process for any product involves producing materials of different strengths, adhesive qualities and flexibilities to gauge their usefulness is given situations. Failed samples often sat on workers’ desks but in the case of one “failed” sample, it was found that it could be used to stick little notes on desks and office walls. Eventually the idea dawned that this may actually be a marketable product… and Blu-Tack® was born!
Several opinions have circulated about where the name “Blu-Tack®” came from: one ingenious idea was that it had something to do with the “blueing” of steel to make tacks!
We’re afraid not - in fact Blu-Tack® was originally White-Tack! The first round of development research found some parents worried that children might mistake “White-tack” for chewing gum, so it was decided to add a little blue dye to the product (there being no blue sweets on the market at the time) to overcome the potential confusion. After that, the choice of name was pretty obvious…
Production
There are five stages in the production process: mixing, blending, discharge, final extrusion and packaging. During mixing a heavy duty blender is used to grind rubber into fine granules and mix it with fillers to form an intermediate compound. In the blending process further rubbers, fillers, pigments and oils are added to the compound and thoroughly blended in a special mixer. Then the product is discharged in large, irregularly-shaped tubes of the finished product and allowed to cool to room temperature. When ready, the Blu-tack is extruded into its final shape, covered in a sterilized, waxed paper and cut to size. Finally, Blu-Tack® is packaged in two packs sizes – handy and economy.
Blu-Tack® sticks with its blue colour even though there are now plenty of blue sweets on the market. This is simply because Blu-Tack® is a modern icon of simple, readily-available household names. If it wasn’t blue, it wouldn’t be Blu-Tack® - but in other countries multiple colours are available.
Today:
The fingers have been amputated and the Blob has taken their place. An early comment on the trend for increasing obesity in society? Perhaps. But then again, probably not. And the blob's name is Bill, by the way.
