Kiwifruit industry in New Zealand and Growers, who were calling the berries "melonettes", because the local name for the fruit, "Chinese gooseberry", had political connotations due to the Cold War, and to further distinguish it from real gooseberries, which are prone to a fungus called anthracnose. An American importer, Norman Sondag of San Francisco, complained that "melonettes" was as bad as "Chinese gooseberry" because melons and berries were both subject to high import tariffs, and instead asked for a short Maori name that quickly connoted New Zealand. In June 1959, during a meeting of Turners and Growers management in Auckland, Jack Turner suggested the name
Gooseberry Patch with the existing creative team. As a first step in this new growth strategy, Gooseberry Patch aggressively engaged in social media during late 2009. Not surprisingly, the loyal Gooseberry Patch fans responded enthusiastically. Consider the following milestones achieved: Nearly 270,000 actively engaged Facebook fans - ranking in the top 4% of corporate Facebook pages; 1.1M views of their YouTube channel - featuring book trailers, In the Kitchen with Vickie & JoAnn recipe how-to's & behind-the-scenes videos; over 11,500 followers on Twitter - engaging in lively interaction daily; averaging over 9,000 daily page views on their blog - publishing new stories