The invention of the Chupa Chups (original brand name for lollipop) dates back to 1957 when Spanish entrepreneur Enric Bernat thought it would be a good idea to add a wooden stick to a ball of candy so that kids would not have to touch it and get their fingers sticky: it will be like eating candy with a fork, Bernat said when explaining his idea, and soon the demand for the product made his company an international success. In Spain, Chupa Chups have an excellent distribution system, but I had never seen a Chupa Chups dispenser until this summer. It was placed at the entrance of a cafeteria in Candás, a small coastal town in the North of Spain. The device holds 20 different flavors and it is easy to operate in a low-tech way: insert a coin; turn the transparent cylinder until the desired flavor is up front; turn the metal wheel below it and the candy will appear through the opening at the bottom. The rest of the dispenser is a little bit dated – circular metal tubes anodized in gold- but still functional in the way it is designed to roll in and out of the cafeteria during business hours. It is interesting to think about the public nature of this object, placed in the sidewalk to be in sight of young consumers so that they may, in turn, bring their guardians closer to the entrance of the cafeteria.
