Product type Confectionery Country United Kingdom Markets Worldwide | Owner Cadbury Introduced 1920 | |
Flake is a brand of chocolate bar currently manufactured by Cadbury and consists of thinly folded milk chocolate.
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The product was first developed in 1920 and was serendipitously discovered by an employee of Cadburys who noticed thin streams of excess chocolate falling from molds and cooling into flaky folded bars.
Since 1922 in Britain, Australia, South Africa and Ireland ice cream vendors serve "99 Flakes" 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.
Flake bars
Several varieties of Flake have been produced over the years, including:
Related products
Advertising
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. In the 1970s, an advert was taken off air following complaints about the suggestive manner in which the woman bit into the bar.
The Flake song was composed by UK jingle writer Ronnie Bond who also composed "Tasty tasty very very tasty" for Bran Flakes, and "I'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops" for Coco Pops. Ronnie has recently released the album "Songs in the Key of F".
In 1983, UK prog-rock band Twelfth Night included an impromptu song as part of an encore, to the tune of the flake jingle, "Only the crumbliest, flakiest skin, remains on your body after nuclear war...".
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 retired 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 featured Australian model Alyssa Sutherland eating a Flake in a convertible during a shower of rain.
UK singer Joss Stone became the new Flake girl in 2008 - the first non-model to promote the product. In the television advert 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.
Magazine and Billboard ads show the new campaign "Succumb to the crumb", with a piece of flake on a lady's tongue.
On 8 June 2010, a new advertisement (first aired on Channel 4) saw a woman float around on a black background. Whilst part of 'The Flake girl' series, there is no mention of any text or slogan aside from the image of the bar at the end of the advertisement, and the familiar music jingle is replaced by a haunting piano piece.