Cadbury Dairy Milk

Cadbury Dairy Milk

Logo used since 2020
A Dairy Milk Caramel bar in its foil wrapper
Product type	Confectionery
Owner	Cadbury
Country	United Kingdom
Introduced	June 1905; 120 years ago (1905-06)
Related brands	List of Cadbury products
Markets	Worldwide
Website	cadbury.co.uk/dairy-milk

Cadbury Dairy Milk is a British brand of milk chocolate manufactured by Cadbury since 1905. Every product in the Dairy Milk line is made exclusively with milk chocolate. In 1928, Cadbury introduced the "glass and a half" slogan to accompany the Dairy Milk chocolate bar to advertise the bar's higher milk content.^[1]

The bar was developed by George Cadbury Jr, and by 1914 it had become the company's best-selling product.^[2] A century on it has retained its position as a market leader in Britain where it was ranked the best-selling chocolate bar in 2014.^[3] Dairy Milk is also available in many other countries including China, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, as well as in the United States where it is manufactured and distributed by the Hershey Company under licence from Cadbury with a recipe that differs from the original.^[4]

In June 1905, in Birmingham, England, George Cadbury Jr made Cadbury's first Dairy Milk bar with a higher proportion of milk than previous chocolate bars; by 1914 it became the company's best-selling product.^[2] Through its development, the bar was variously called 'Highland Milk', 'Jersey', and 'Dairy Maid'.^[2][5] Accounts on the origin of the Dairy Milk name differ. It has been suggested that the name change came about on the advice of a shopkeeper in Plymouth, but Cadbury maintains that a customer's daughter came up with the name.^[2][5]

Fruit and Nut was introduced as part of the Dairy Milk line in 1926, soon followed by Whole Nut in 1930. By that point, Cadbury's was the brand leader in the United Kingdom.^[6] Almost a century on it has retained this position, with Dairy Milk ranking as the best-selling chocolate bar in the UK in 2014.^[3] In 2020, Dairy Milk was the second most popular snack of people working from home in March 2020 in the UK behind McVitie's Chocolate Digestive biscuits.^[7]

In 1928, Cadbury's introduced the "glass and a half" slogan to accompany the Dairy Milk bar to advertise the bar's higher milk content.^[1] In the early 2010s, Cadbury made the decision to change the shape of the bar chunks to a more circular shape which also reduced the weight.^[8]

In 2003, Cadbury expanded the Dairy Milk brand range of new flavours and variants. Cadbury Dairy Milk was then the largest product range in Cadbury's portfolio in the brand's history. The new products launched were: Biscuit, Crunchie Bits, Bubbly, Mint Chips, Turkish, Crispies, and the then recently introduced Wafer and Orange Chips. Cadbury's Caramel bar was also relaunched under the Dairy Milk brand.^[9]

In 2005, Cadbury celebrated the Centenary 100th Anniversary of Cadbury Dairy Milk. A limited edition bar in reproduced original 1905 packaging was launched.^[10]

Also in 2005, Cadbury buried a time capsule at the Bournville factory in the Midlands. On the company's website, Cadbury stated, "We're going to bury a Time Capsule that won't be opened until Cadbury Dairy Milk is 200 years young. But, we need your help in deciding what we should leave for future generations."^[11]

In 2012, Cadbury won a trademark dispute in the United Kingdom for the distinctive purple colour (Pantone 2685C) of its chocolate bar wrappers,^[12] a colour originally introduced in 1914, as a tribute to Queen Victoria.^[13] In October 2013, however, an appeal by Nestlé successfully challenged Cadbury's claim to the colour.^[14]

In July 2018, Cadbury announced it would launch a new Dairy Milk version with 30% less sugar. The chief nutritionist of Public Health England, Alison Tedstone, said she was "pleased that Mondelez is the latest … name" to offer "healthier" products.^[15]

On 8 January 2024, Mondelez International announced plans to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Cadbury.^[16] As part of the celebrations, seven retro limited edition packaging designs of Cadbury Dairy Milk bars were relaunched from 1915, 1940, 1961, 1980, 1993, 2003, and 2024.^[17]

The original Dairy Milk bar ("with a glass and a half of fresh milk") was launched in 1905.^[18]

There are various bars, including: Caramel; Fruit & Nut, a bar with raisins and almonds; Whole Nut, with hazelnuts; Dairy Milk Silk, launched in India, in 2010;^[19] Dairy Milk Ritz, a bar with salty Ritz crackers, launched in the United Kingdom in 2014; and Dairy Milk with LU biscuits.^{[citation needed]} There is also Dairy Milk Oreo, a bar with an Oreo filling, also made as a mint flavoured bar.^{[citation needed]}

A Vegemite flavoured bar, which consists of milk chocolate, caramel, and Vegemite (5%), was launched in Australia in 2015.^[20]

According to a 2007 report in The New York Times, a British bar contained (in order) milk, sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, vegetable fat and emulsifiers, whilst the American version manufactured by Hershey started its list of ingredients with sugar. It also listed lactose, emulsifier soy lecithin, and "natural and artificial flavorings".^[4] Cadbury supplied its chocolate crumb to Hershey, which then added cocoa butter during processing.^[4] According to its spokesman, Cadbury tries to adapt the taste of the product to that which local consumers are accustomed, meaning it is more akin to a Hershey bar for the US market.^[4]

Cadbury's Fruit & Nut appeared in a 1970s television advertisement that featured humourist Frank Muir singing "Everyone's a fruit and nutcase" to the tune of "Danse des mirlitons" from Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker.^[21][22]

In Ireland, Cadbury Dairy Milk used the jingle "The Perfect Word For Chocolate" from 1986 to 1988. Between 1989 and 1996, the jingle "The Choice Is Yours The Taste Is Cadbury" with the slogan "Mysteries of Love" was a advertisement.^[23]

In 2007, Cadbury launched a new advertising campaign entitled Gorilla, from a new in-house production company called "Glass And A Half Full Productions".^[24] The advert was premièred during the season finale of Big Brother 2007, including the Phil Collins song "In the Air Tonight".^[25]

On 28 March 2008, the second Dairy Milk advert produced by Glass and a Half Full Productions aired. The ad includes Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now".^[26]

On 5 September 2008, an ad was launched with Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" – a reference to online mash-ups of the commercial, and another using Bon Jovi's song "Livin' on a Prayer". Both remakes premiered once again during the finale of Big Brother 2008.^[27]

In January 2009, 'Eyebrows', the third advert in the series, was released, including "Don't Stop the Rock" by Freestyle.^[28]

A new 'record label' was launched as part of the Glass and a Half Full Productions campaign. The first song released was Zingolo featuring Tinny, to promote Fairtrade Dairy Milk. A full music video was made incorporating the 60-second ads, as well as a Facebook page.^{[citation needed]}

In addition, Cadbury brought the "Joyville" concept into Asia, where Singapore bloggers were invited to join in the campaign in 2013.^[29]

In 2014, Joyville was replaced with the "Free The Joy" campaign. The song in a television advert is "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" by Baccara.^[30] A new design was launched for Dairy Milk (and its variants) inviting consumers to scan an on-pack QR code and visit a website featuring "Free The Joy" moments.

Initially, the company had appointed Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador in 2004.^[31] However, the brand soon faced a significant backlash, with worms being spotted in a few of the chocolate bars.^[32] With its new campaigns, the company recovered again, with increased sales.^[33] One campaign that promoted the product by using the country's love for cricket was successful.^[34] The advert was noted to be the best advertisement made in India by The Times of India.^[35]

Another famous campaign hosted by the company in the past was the 'Shubh Aarambh' Campaign. This campaign made use of the traditional practice of Indian households of having something sweet before every auspicious occasion. This campaign was successful and positioned Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates as part of a family name.^[36] Cadbury today^[when?] holds 70% of the market share of the chocolate industry in the country.^[37]

In 2015, Hershey's blocked imports of overseas-made Cadbury chocolate and other confectionery to the US that infringed on its trademark licensing in a settlement with a grey importer.^[38] British Dairy Milk has been blind taste-tested as providing a creamier taste and texture, with the Hershey's-made chocolate reportedly leaving a less pleasing coating on the tongue and a somewhat stale aftertaste.^[38]

Cadbury was fined £1 million in July 2007 due to its products having been found to have been at risk of infection with salmonella (at a factory in Marlbrook, Herefordshire, England). It spent a further £30 million decontaminating the factory.^[39]

On 14 September 2007, Cadbury Schweppes investigated a manufacturing error over allergy warnings, recalling for the second time in two years thousands of chocolate bars. A printing mistake at the Keynsham factory resulted in the omission of nut allergy labels from 250g Dairy Milk Double Chocolate bars.^{[citation needed]}

The 2008 Chinese milk scandal affected Cadbury, when much of the Cadbury Dairy Milk manufactured in mainland China was tainted with melamine. Although it can be safely used in plastic manufacturing, melamine is toxic, particularly to infants.^[40]

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