It doesn’t matter if you like to eat them or not. The smell of popcorn is practically the same as saying the word “cinema” out loud . And there is no snack that identifies us so much with that sacred (for many) tradition of sitting in a huge room with many other spectators, waiting for the lights to go out and feeling that story that they are going to tell us. Can anyone imagine a greater pleasure than doing it with a good bowl of puffed corn in your hands?
More than a century of tradition
If you have ever wondered when you are eating one of those portions of popcorn in the cinema what its origin is, then you have to go look for it in the USA, the cradle of the seventh art and the place where the first measures were adopted to convert everything that surrounds the cinema into a profitable business, both for those who make the films and for those who show them in their commercial theaters. But do you have any idea where that tradition comes from?
First of all, we must remember that the US is one of the largest corn producers in the world and, therefore, they have enough raw material to make popcorn that can be consumed in theaters. The problem came in the early years, when the halls were dressed in elegant places and distinguished attendees, so eating there, seated, was practically ordinariness. So it was banned.
But the phenomenon began to explode in the street, with street stalls that were attached to the entrances to the theaters to sell viewers their portions before the movies began, so little by little that unmistakable aroma, and its affordable price, they did the rest: popcorn became the main snack to eat while enjoying a good film.
And the business came
Now, is a street stall going to take the money that the same room where the film is shown could get? That was the moment in which everything changed and the exhibitors understood that a good part of the collection was not so much in the sale of the ticket itself , but in everything that surrounds the typical paraphernalia of going to the movies. That is, the sale of popcorn and soft drinks, which represent an expense almost identical to that of going to see the movie.
Moreover, during the Second World War, the rationing of some foods did not affect corn , so the rooms continued to offer their popcorn, which was consumed with relish by citizens who came to the rooms to forget about the horrors of the conflict, which that helped further strengthen this custom that, over the years, ended up making the leap to other countries in the world. Among them ours.
By the way, do you know why there are three sizes of popcorn servings to choose from? Initially only two were offered, the small and the large . The cinemas, who wanted to sell the most expensive, realized that almost everyone chose the cheapest portion, so to trick us they added a third category between the two, the medium portion, with a price closer to the large portion that to small, in such a way that the customer’s perception changed (it is called “decoy effect”) and what originally seemed expensive began to be seen as something cheaper, so sales multiplied.