Freddo Frog
Freddo (originally Freddy the Frog in the 1970s) is a chocolate bar brand shaped like an anthropomorphic cartoon frog. It was originally manufactured by the now defunct company MacRobertson's, an Australian confectionery company, but is now produced by Cadbury. Some of the more popular flavours include strawberry and peppermint while the more controversial flavours like fruit and nut have struggled over the years.
Origin: MacRobertson's/Cadbury
Gender: Male
Species: Frog
History[edit | edit source]
Freddo Frog was introduced by MacRobertson’s in 1930. The first set-up was to launch a mouse-shaped chocolate candy, however a young worker, Harry Melbourne, urged that a frog could also be additional likeable. The form of the frog and its packaging have modified over the years, with Freddo Frog assumptive an additional cartoon-like character. The foil packaging has been replaced with a plastic wrapper. Cadbury currently owns the whole, mercantilism quite ninety million in Australia annually.
The Freddo Frog was made-up in 1930 at the MacRobertson’s chocolate mill in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Macpherson's guard was already far-famed for his confectionery merchandise, as well as yellowness chocolates and therefore the Cherry Ripe chocolate candy. History records that he meant to provide a chocolate mouse, maybe to capitalise on the recognition of Disney’s new animated character Mickey Mouse, United Nations agency created his debut in 1927.
However, that the story goes, associate worker named Harry Melbourne seen that ladies and kids were frightened of mice and urged that a frog would have additional attractiveness. Therefore the Freddo was born. Initially, in line with Wikipedia, there have been four varieties: chocolate, chocolate, 0.5 milk/half white, and chocolate with peanuts. That will be thus, however by 1941 MacRobertson’s were advertising twelve varieties at a penny every.
The Freddo of these days was formed sort of a frog. It continued to be thus a minimum of till 1967 once the corporate was nonheritable by Cadbury, and presumably for a few time thenceforth. At some purpose within the Nineteen Seventies, the MacRobertson’s name was born in favour of Cadbury.
Perhaps it had been then that the form of the chocolate frog was modified to fit the advertising character that had diagrammatic the whole for several years. Or even the amendment was driven by the strain of a global market. Freddo was launched by Cadbury within the Great Britain in 1973 however the Poms were but affected. The merchandise was withdrawn in 1979, however re-launched, presumptively in current livery, in 1994.
Freddo currently walks upright, wears human wear and may be a cartoon character instead of a frog. He’s been foil wrapped and plastic-wrapped and even underwent a shiny ‘facelift’ within the Great Britain in 2009
History[edit | edit source]
n Australia, Freddo Frogs are manufactured in Ringwood, Victoria and Claremont, Tasmania. 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".
Freddo bars were released onto the UK market in 1973, turning over £2 million a year by 1974, before being withdrawn in 1979. They were re-launched in 1994 after 15 years. 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.[citation needed]
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 £1 million, 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.
Inflation[edit | edit source]
In the United Kingdom, the price of Freddo is informally used to measure the cost of living and inflation rates, with each generation comparing a different price. When Freddo bar was relaunched in the 1990s, it was priced at 10p. The price of a Freddo remained at 10p until 2005, when the price of a Freddo bar has roughly increased in price by 2p a year, with the 2016 selling price being 25p. In 2017, the price of Freddos increased to 30p, double the price adjusted for inflation (15p), compared to its launch price (10p). This led to public criticism and outrage across social media platforms. For one week in January 2019, the British supermarket Tesco reduced the price of Freddo to the nostalgic price of 10p as part of their centenary celebrations. The current price of a Freddo in Sainsburys is as much as 25p.
Varieties[edit | edit source]
Though primarily available as solid milk fingers, certain versions of the product have a cream, caramel, or other 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, along with the Giant Caramello Koala, was the brain-child of then Australian brand manager Jesse Karjalainen.