I can see why it was popular with hikers.
Never know when you might need to start a fire to keep warm.
Haribo should’ve stayed in their lane
Their lane being sourcing carnauba wax from plantations that use forced labor?
I think it is fair to assume that if you get electronics branded by a candy manufacturer, you will not get any sort of quality electronics.
Obviously they shouldn’t be a fire hazard but still.
I hate that every known company has to suddenly exploit their “brand recognition” and expand into unrelated areas. It’s completely logical from a short-term-profits-from-uninterested-in-anything-besides-profits shareholders but destroys the value people ascribe to a certain brand in the long run. My favourite example: Marshall. They’ve been known for loud and DISTORTED guitar amplifiers for decades. They shaped the sound of so many famous bands. Their amps would last a lifetime and sound great! So someone thought "Hey let’s make shitty headphones and Bluetooth speakers that will - by nature - not be durable, will have to excell in an area that Marshall never was interested in: amplifiers that do not distort the source material and that sound neutral. They had to rely on completely new technology like Bluetooth (which changes it’s standard over time) or be dependent on shitty Internet companies like Spotify (who decide suddenly to brick devices by not supporting them anymore). It’s almost the complete opposite of everything Marshall stood for IMHO. The only thing they have in common is that they make sound. The effect is that people buy products that break, decay or deteriorate on timescales much much shorter than the original brand would be expected. The thing that Marshal will be known for in the future is these speakers or breaking headphones with OK-sound quality. But a few management people will have made a lot of money of course.
Yeah, I would never even have considered those if I just encountered them with no other info.
I can get branding things that are maybe even tangentially related to their main activity, and then there’s a chance they’d want something at least decent. Possibly.
That one is so random I couldn’t imagine more thought went into it than tacking their logo on the cheapest thing they could buy.
Gummi-power?
Exactly!
Bought one of these for my partner for Xmas. Hearing they’re a hazard is news to me. Should I seek a return?
Edit: was well outside the return window, but contacted Amazon regardless. They’ll credit my account when I purchase a new power bank. Appreciate OP sharing this. Otherwise I could have had some problems.
Do you have any reason to keep your partner?
Ha! She scratches that part of my back I can’t reach. She also doesn’t mind (and even requests) seeing me nude sometimes. So yeah, I kinda wanna keep her.
Thanks for the early morning grammar lesson.
That’s hilarious and sad. They outsourced their brand to the cheapest Chinese shit they could find. Stick to making candy, ja?
The Haribo brand has been going downhill rapidly since hired managers took over leadership. It has been run by the same family for generations but the latest heirs had no interest in a leadership role. So it‘s run by random business people now who only make short term decisions based on numbers. When they moved their headquarters from Bonn (the town part of the company‘s name is based on. It‘s part of it‘s very DNA) to a tax haven state to save cost, everyone knew it was over. That company is just a Brand name with no identity now.
It graduated to a multi global demonic entity and now it employs humans to harvest the planet exponentially and will never stop even if the owners wanted to. Everyone’s just doing their job… Especially the top lawyers and presidents that get paid a lot so they can seem special
Except their candy also has the potential for explosions…
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samlemonick/2016/10/28/that-time-gummy-bears-gave-everyone-diarrhea/
I prefer the time weed made it into them https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/29/haribo-recalls-sweets-in-the-netherlands-after-traces-of-cannabis-found
Top-notch company, right there. Really dotting their t’s and crossing their fingers!
What do ya reckon they do with their candy
I mean they were wildly successful and made a bunch of money so if you ask them, mission accomplished.
We’ll see in a couple of months when these things start failing/catching fire just like every other cheaply-made battery.
It’s not like they come with warranties or some magical immediate money back guarantee. And I doubt they wanted this to be a long term thing, they made their money already and anything happening post that has no effect on that. Money made, that’s it, the people can burn for all they care.
Just another reason not to buy earbuds. You are sticking a fairly large amount of power inside your ear.
Looks like 2 brick of cocaine
It seems like they were on the path to a really great product, but failed due to choosing a poor quality supplier.
Pricing wasn’t the issue, the power bank’s lightness compared to its power capacity was the big attraction. The crappy version may be crappy, but it also demonstrates proof-of-concept that Backpackers really want it, and would probably be willing to pay a higher price for a reliable, high-quality version. Haribo needs to find a better quality supplier, get the product made correctly, and charge a reasonable price for it.
I’ve just been looking into this and I’m not sure that’s the case.
It’s seems that this was light compared to others because of the poor design and execution. They cut corners to and used lighter materials which in turn leads to the things found under the CT scans making them more at risk of fire or breaking down over time. It doesn’t seem like they made a revolutionary battery more a cheap one.
Why are Haribo even doing this don’t they make sweets (candy)?
Because the current management have no idea about the identity of the brand. They just want to make money quick but all they accomplish is losing market share.
Lots of companies have wide product lines. The hard part of building a successful corporation is establishing a well-known brand, and once that is accomplished, many companies decide to use that popularity to promote more products that can increase revenue and profits.
It makes the most sense if the new products are within the same market sector, but it doesn’t have to. Samsung is a perfect example. In Korea, it is possible to work for a Samsung company, live in a Samsung apartment complex, drive a Samsung vehicle, use a Samsung phone, and probably a lot more other stuff.
Or get shot by an armed Samsung robot…
This is just vendor swag that someone realized could be a whole product line
Why are they so light? Do they way less than high rated 18650 cells would be for the rated capacity? If so they are probably inflating the rating. As is shockingly common for no name powerbanks. There are very minimal usb boards you can load 18650s into, or attach quad copter cells to, 3d print your own minimal case that suits your needs with the highest capacity and quality cells you can afford.
Gummy bears are also flammable, so this all tracks.
It was very funny that haribo of all companies had the lightest battery for the capacity, but all good things must come to an end
Cursed headline, I love it.
Wasn’t the Haribo power bank popular among hardcore hikers, since it had the best weight to capacity ratio? Remember reading about that somewhere.
You clearly didn’t even look at the article. It’s literally the first point they made.
But what if, and hear me out in this one, what if the Haribo power bank was popular among hardcore hikers, since it had the best weight to capacity ratio?
Because it was rolled like shit so it was fluffy and dangerous…?
I’ve heard that claim before. Anyone have a source?
If only it were mentioned in some article or something…
I sure wouldn’t know.
