> The gummy bears were invented in 1922 by the Bonn entrepreneur Hans Riegel, who christened his creation »Dancing Bear«. It was not until 1960 that the colorful fellows were renamed »Goldbears«. The dancing bears were significantly softer than their successors: Instead of the gelatine used today, a mixture of animal proteins, they consisted mainly of the plant sap gum arabic, which contains various polysaccharides (multiple sugars). Numerous companies now produce gummy bears and other fruit gums in many variations.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haribo
However this German newspaper says something about dancing bears being seen animal abuse, and thus bad marketing:
https://rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/rhein-kreis/geliebt-und-gef...
(Google Translate is your friend, if you don't read German.)
https://www.spektrum.de/magazin/faszinierende-chemische-expe... suggests that they didn't just change the name, but also the recipe:
> The gummy bears were invented in 1922 by the Bonn entrepreneur Hans Riegel, who christened his creation »Dancing Bear«. It was not until 1960 that the colorful fellows were renamed »Goldbears«. The dancing bears were significantly softer than their successors: Instead of the gelatine used today, a mixture of animal proteins, they consisted mainly of the plant sap gum arabic, which contains various polysaccharides (multiple sugars). Numerous companies now produce gummy bears and other fruit gums in many variations.
(via Google Translate)