After Cadbury’s, who’s next?

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk wrappers will no longer bear the long-standing slogan, ‘a glass and a half of full-cream milk’. Instead the less-than-lyrical – but doubtless much more scientifically accurate – ‘the equivalent of 426ml of fresh liquid milk in every 227g of milk chocolate’ will appear in its place.

The makers have clearly picked up on the growing tide of bafflement and rage among the British public at the sheer incongruity of the statement. After all, how the heck did they get a whole glass and a half of milk into one of those little fun-size bars?   ‘The phrase didn’t make sense if the pack stated the bar weighs 49g or 230g,’ a spokesman rightly pointed out.

As yet, Cadbury’s bid for swear-on-the-Bible-type honesty won’t actually affect its advertising campaigns. But could they be next?

And what could this mean for other well-known slogans?…

Thank Crunchie it’s Friday, though neither Crunchie nor Cadbury’s can take credit or responsibility for the natural passage of time.

Mr Kipling doesn’t technically make exceedingly good cakes, because he is a fictitious, never-seen character created for marketing purposes.

In all honesty, there are times when I wouldn’t rather have a bowl of Coco Pops.

Utterly accurate or not, you can’t help but hope that advertisers decide to stick to using at least a little bit of artistic licence. Because they’re worth it.

Image credit: Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bar by Zeyus Media used under CC BY 2.0

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Catie joined Emphasis with an English literature and creative writing degree and a keen interest in what makes language work. Having researched, written, commissioned and edited dozens of articles for the Emphasis blog, she now knows more about the intricacies of effective professional writing than she ever thought possible.

She produced and co-wrote our online training programme, The Complete Business Writer, and these days oversees all the Emphasis marketing efforts. And she keeps office repartee at a suitably literary level.