Caramello Koala
Caramello Koala is the mascot of a brand of chocolate treat currently manufactured by Cadbury Australia. It consists of a chocolate cartoon koala (named "George" in certain advertising material) with a caramel centre.
The chocolate bar is sold in two sizes: the more common 15 g (0.53 oz) size and the "Giant" 35 g (1.2 oz) size, usually sold as a fundraiser. 50 million Caramello Koalas are sold in Australia each year, making the product the second most popular in the Australian children's confectionery market, after the Freddo Frog.
Cross-over products are occasionally made available featuring the Caramello character, including Cadbury Caramello Koala Choc Caramel flavoured milk in 2003 and Caramello Koala Sundae ice-cream in 1997. They were also sold in South Africa under the name "Caramello Bear", where they were marketed with the Caramello Bear admitting: "Caramel? That's a weakness!", but they were discontinued in 2012. The Afrikaans slogan for the Caramello Bear in South Africa was "Met 'n magie propvol caramel", which translates to "with a tummy full of caramel".
A 20g Caramello Koala contains 415 kJ (99,000 cal) of energy and 5.5 g (0.19 oz) of fat.
Caramello Koala was introduced in Australia as the Caramello Bear in 1966. It was reputedly the first mass-marketed confection to be modeled on Australian fauna. Television advertisements for the chocolate in Australia featured Caramello and his cartoon friends sailing down a river or riding on a steam train to a modified version of Donovan's "Mellow Yellow". Caramello's packaging and imagery was updated in 2000, after market research revealed the character was seen as daggy, one-dimensional and not sufficiently 'animated'.
In 2003, then Australian Labor Party MP, Mark Latham, was labelled a "Caramello Koala" by Liberal MP Christopher Pyne, for allegedly being "soft in the centre".
To deal with rising input costs, in April 2015 Cadbury announced a reduction in size of the 20 g (0.71 oz) chocolate to 15 g (0.53 oz). Despite the 25% size reduction, the price is unchanged. The giant Caramello Koala has also been reduced from 40 g (1.4 oz) to 35 g (1.2 oz).
However, by the time the Caramello Bear was being advertised, it had assumed a more upright, anthropomorphic shape. Later still, Caramello’s Koala’s facial features were changed to the clown-like grin we see today. The ears have shrunk to the point of being non-existent.
Caramello Koala has long been a feature of showbags at the various Royal Shows around Australia. In 1984 it was included in the Cadbury showbag and in 1987 played a supporting role in the Freddo showbag. Now there’s a popular Caramello Koala showbag.
The chocolate koala is one of the most iconic Australian sweets and has even made it to the USA. In 1985, The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, reported that…
An Australiana shop ambitiously called Everything Australian offers sweatshirts and toy koalas, bush hats and sheepskins, opals and Vegemite, and, most important of all, chocolate sweets from home, Cherry Ripes and Caramello Koalas.
The Caramello Koala was later sold in America under the name Aussie Bear.
In 2010, ownership of the Caramello brand passed to Kraft Foods, when the company acquired Cadbury. The snack foods division of Kraft Foods later became Modelez International. It’s based in America. Like so many products dear to Australian hearts, this little Aussie isn’t really an Aussie at all.
