Cadbury's Flake Bars
The product was first developed in 1920 and was founded by an employee of Cadburys. When the excess from the moulds was drained off, it fell off in a stream and created folded chocolate with flaking properties. In the UK ice cream vendors serve '9 9s' which are vanilla soft serve ice cream in a wafer cone in which a half size Flake bar is inserted in the top. Cadbury has also come out with a version which is sold in supermarkets. The product gained some notoriety for its highly sensual advertising. In the UK, the adverts showed people - almost always women - enjoying a Flake whilst relaxing. The Flake Girl became famous as a symbol of indulgence and secret pleasure. Her emphasis - to a raspingly emotional jingle ("Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before"), voted third most memorable of all time - was on allowing herself a guilt-free luxury. However, many saw in the delicacy with which she nibbled the crumbly chocolate bar, more than a hint of sexual pleasure. That, of course, was why it was so successful - but just a hint, and no more. In the 1970s, an advert was taken off air following complaints about the suggestive manner in which the woman bit into the bar. In 1999, a tribute commercial to the Flake Girls of decades past was released, much to the delight of nostalgic fans. The montage began with a clip of the very first Flake Girl commercial from 1959, followed by a 1965 clip of a girl relaxing in a row boat and being pestered by a cheeky swan for a peck of her Flake bar. The next clip showed the 1973 ad of a doe-eyed artist in a field of poppies painting a watercolour and indulging in a Flake bar, before being caught in a summer shower. This was followed by a clip of the exotic 1987 ad in which a restless woman in silk negligee reposes on a window sill on a sultry night, indulging in a Flake bar whilst a gecko lizard is noted crawling over a ringing telephone. Next was a clip of the classical 1991 Flake ad in which a woman sporting a dark, cropped hairstyle (resembling Demi Moore and Enya's hair at the time) reposes in an overflowing bath tub in a great painted hall. Lastly, this tribute montage commercial ended with the latest Flake Girl ad (1999), featuring a Parisienne relaxing in a summery garden overlooking the Eiffel Tower. As she bites into the Flake bar in her ice-cream, the garden sprinklers are set off and she is drenched in refreshing water. The Flake girl was finally killed-off after 40 years, in 2004 However, in 2005 she was found to have a 19% recall in the UK population, leading to a revival in 2007. The new advert features reversed film of Alyssa Sutherland eating a Flake in a convertible during a shower of rain. |
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