Chewigem is ‘the Hoover of Chewables’… But What Does That Mean?

Ever heard someone saying, “I am just going to do the hoovering” or “let me get the hoover out”? That comes from the brand ‘Hoover’ – a Dyson is not a Hoover,  but it is a vacuum cleaner, a Shark is not a Hoover, but it’s also a vacuum cleaner. But Hoover was such a well-known brand it became interchangeable with the word vacuum cleaner and vacuum cleaners all became hoovers. It’s become so commonplace that we even refer to the action of vacuuming as ‘hoovering’.

Well, the same is true of our flagship brand Chewigem, launched way back in 2010 – it is now a common and interchangeable name for ‘chewellery’ or ‘chewables’, making Chewigem the “Hoover of Chewables’. Ta-da!

On the one hand, this is amazing as it shows just how strong the Chewigem brand is – to such an extent that it has become the gold standard term for chewables in the sensory world. What an achievement, what an accolade!

On the flip side, it can be frustrating when other chewable brands may colloquially adopt our name but we are not in control of the product and it’s quality. Now, there are many chewable brands on the market many of them are fantastic. In fact, at Sensooli we are all about finding the right solution for the customer and if our Chewigem range cannot meet the needs of our customer, we have no problem sending people to what would be viewed as a competitor brand because we are about helping the individual and doing the right thing.

No really! We actually do this. We have developed a deep understanding of chewing and understand that every chewer is different. We work with customers to find a product that works for them and you can find out more about that here.

But equally, many other chewellery products are cheap and of poor quality. So when we get someone saying “my Chewigem did not work”, or “I bought this Chewigem at half the price”,  and when on closer inspection we find that is is NOT a real Chewigem, it does kind of bother us. This is NOT the fault of the user, in fact, it is no one’s fault – teachers, OTs, and allied professionals often advise people to get a ‘Chewigem’ when by that, they can mean a chewellery product and not necessarily OUR brand. It’s because chewables have become Chewigem, as vacuum cleaners have become Hoovers and although it shows how amazingly well the Chewigem brand has done and how highly regarded it is, it can be a double-edged sword!

Chewigem is the Hoover of Chewables

If people are new to the chewable world, they don’t know what they don’t know and they don’t know that not all chewies are the same. Chewies all have different features to suit different chewers. Someone new to the chewable world won’t know that if one shape, texture or design fails, it does not mean ALL will fail, it just means they have not found the right chew for that persons chewing style yet. Our main concern around our flagship Chewigem brand being associated with other chewables in the market is that they may well NOT be of the same high standard and this can incorrectly skew someone’s perception of Chewigem. We don’t want this to happen, not just because of the association with our brand but because someone who NEEDS a chewy may give up on the concept and that would be terrible!

But hey, that’s the way of the world I guess. We do whatever we can, and when someone reaches out to us and complains about their ‘Chewigem’ we are able to inform them it is NOT a Chewigem and help them find a top-quality product that does work. Our customer service is frankly incredible, we always go above and beyond and we solve these issues leaving very happy customers.

If you are a Chewigem superfan (of which we know there are many!) and you see a non- Chewigem product being called out as a ‘Chewigem’, we would appreciate you politely letting them know and sending them our way for help.

Chewigem is the Hoover of Chewables – and for that we are incredibly proud.