Product type Confectionery Country Australia Previous owners MacRobertson's | Owner Cadbury Introduced 1930 Website Product website | |
 | ||
Freddo (originally Freddo Frog) is a brand of chocolate bar shaped like a cartoon frog, standing up and wearing clothes. It was originally manufactured by MacRobertson's, an Australian confectionery company, but is now produced by Cadbury, a British firm.
Contents
The product was invented in 1930 by Harry Melbourne, an 18-year-old MacRobertson's employee. In 1967, MacRobertson's was sold to Cadbury, which incorporated Freddo Frogs into its own product range. The chocolate was originally sold only in Australia, but has been introduced into several other markets.
History
In 1930, the MacRobertson's chocolate company were looking to add a new product to their children's range. Initial designs for a chocolate mouse were rejected, as Harry Melbourne felt that women and children were afraid of mice and would dislike the product. It was instead decided to produce a chocolate frog, branded as "Freddo Frog". There were four varieties available: milk chocolate, white chocolate, half milk/half white, and milk chocolate with peanuts.
Freddo Frogs became part of the Cadbury product range in 1967, when MacRobertson's were sold to Cadbury. In Australia, Freddo Frogs are manufactured in Ringwood, Victoria and Hobart. Since the success of Freddo, an alternative chocolate named Caramello Koala (formerly Caramello Bear), also made by Cadbury, has been created. Caramello Koala is the only flavour in which the chocolate is not shaped like "Freddo", but shaped like a Koala instead.
Freddo bars were released onto the UK market in 1973 and withdrawn in 1979. After 15 years they were re-launched. In the UK, a caramel filled version is also sold, with a yellow wrapper. This was formerly known as the Taz bar, featuring the Looney Tunes character. They disappeared for several years before returning under the Freddo image.
In June 2006, a scare over possible Salmonella contamination in some Cadbury products in the UK led to the recall of around a million Cadbury chocolate bars, including the standard Freddo. As a result of the contamination Cadbury was fined £1M, and ordered to pay an additional £152,000 in costs.
In 2009, the Freddo chocolate was redesigned in the United Kingdom, featuring a new, glossier Freddo design, and a replacement Dairy Milk logo. The same year saw the launch of an online animated series on the product's website.
In January 2017, the cost of a Freddo bar in the UK was reported to be going up to 30p a bar.
Varieties
Though primarily available as solid milk fingers, certain versions of the product have a cream or caramel centered flavouring. These include Dairy Milk, white chocolate, rice crisp, strawberry, peppermint, Crunchie, pineapple, popping candy, "Rainbow Crunch" and "Milky Top" (the top half being white chocolate and the bottom milk chocolate, in the style of Cadbury's "Top Deck" products). Milky Top Freddo was the brain-child of then Australian Brand Manager, Rachel Westaway (nee Eamsophana) along with the Giant Caramello Koala.