In 1928, an accountant named Walter Diemer was working at the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia. In his spare time, he tinkered with new gum recipes. One day he hit on a mixture that was stretchier than normal gum - soft enough to blow into a bubble without instantly tearing.
When it came time to color his new invention, the factory only had one tub of food coloring on the shelf, and it happened to be pink. Diemer shrugged and used it. The pink gum was a huge hit, and other companies copied the color when they made their own versions.
Almost a century later, pink is still the default color for bubble gum, all thanks to a tiny coincidence in a 1928 factory. Diemer himself never made big money from the invention but loved teaching schoolkids how to blow a proper bubble - he said his record was about 18 centimetres across.
