Cadbury Flake

Flake

Type	Confectionery
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Introduced	1920
Related brands	Cadbury products
Markets	United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Middle East, Australia, Ireland and South Africa

Cadbury Flake is a bar of thinly folded milk chocolate produced in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and South Africa by Cadbury UK.

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 like that of dandruff.^[1]

Since 1922 in Britain and Ireland ice cream vendors serve '99s' which are vanilla soft serve ice cream in a wafer cone in which a half size Flake bar is inserted in the top. Screwballs are similar but have a plastic cone rather than a wafer.

As of 2008, Cadbury Flake is now sold in Canada.

Variations

Several varieties of Flake have been produced over the years, including:

• Flake Noir - a dark chocolate flake bar^[2]

• Flake Snow - a white chocolate flake bar dipped into milk chocolate. (Previously known as Snowflake)

Launched 2000, renamed Flake Snow in 2003 and discontinued in 2008.

• Flake Dipped - milk chocolate flake dipped into milk chocolate (resembles a larger version of Twirl). Launched 2003.

• Flake Praline - milk chocolate flake with praline. Launched 2004.

• Flake Dark - dark chocolate flake covered in dark chocolate. Launched 2006.

• Flake Bar

• Orange Flake - orange-flavoured milk chocolate flake (available in South Africa)

In late 2007, the entire Flake range was given a packaging revamp, giving the brand a more contemporary look, geared even further to females.

The Flake girl advert

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. In the 1970s, an advert was taken off air following complaints about the suggestive manner in which the woman bit into the bar.

The lyrics were "Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before."

A Flake Chocolate Easter Egg

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 rowing boat whilst 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^[3] However, in 2005 she was found to have a 19% recall in the UK population, leading to a revival in 2007.^[4] The new advert featured Australian model Alyssa Sutherland eating a Flake in a convertible during a shower of rain.^[5]

UK singer Joss Stone is the new Flake girl of 2008 - the first non-model to promote the product.^[6] In the television commercial she is seen breaking off a small piece of Flake before popping it into her mouth and brushing the crumbs off her blouse whilst softly singing the Flake theme song.

Notes and references

External links

• Cadbury Flake
• Cadbury UK