Cadbury encourages consumers not to buy its Dairy Milk and back UK chocolatiers
In a highly unusual move, Cadbury has urged UK consumers not to buy its Dairy Milk Bars for their next confectionery treat, and instead support local chocolatiers, who have been under particular pressure amid the pandemic, reports Neill Barston.
Its scheme, which is being promoted under the social media banner of #Fortheloveofchocolate comes in response to study from insurances group Simply Business last autumn, that found £69 billion has been lost by small high street businesses during the covid crisis. This has led to around two fifths of stores either closing or being under serious threat of shutting their doors for good as a result of successive lockdown measures that has fuelled a major online retailing boom, but damaged physical stores fortunes.
In response, Cadbury, now owned by US-based Mondelez International, has teamed up with six independent stores around the country, including Chouchoute in Birmingham (just a short distance from the original Cadbury store), which had been forced to close its doors recently and trade online. The other stores involved are Choc on Choc in Bath; Hill Street in Essex, Melange in London; Cocoa Amore in Leicester, or Cocoa Cabana in Manchester.
As Cadbury noted, it had itself started out as a single shop on Birmingham’s Bull Street in 1824, so felt compelled to assist local firm Chouchoute, as well as its other companies it has linked up with, who are flying the flag for British independent confectionery, which remains some of the most sought after around the world. Cadbury is also giving away 2,000 products of the finest chocolate; a variety selected from all six partners will be available this month (via cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk).
Significantly, the company is changing its most famous advert; Mum’s Birthday, on TV, outdoors advertising and YouTube for two weeks to feature the partners’ branding instead, replacing its Cadbury Dairy Milk; an activation that would have ordinarily required an advertising budget of almost half a million pounds. It’s a small way for Cadbury to shine a light on its fellow chocolatiers and for the love of chocolate.
Colin O’Toole, Associate Director Marketing Cadbury UK & Ireland at Mondelez says, “We are proud to be supporting local chocolatiers across the UK. As a nation, we’ve always been lucky to have a thriving chocolate scene, full of variety and creativity; and at Cadbury, we of course understand what it’s like to start out as a small independent chocolate shop. So, we wanted to take the opportunity to support our fellow chocolatiers and ask the nation to do the same. After all, it’s all for the love of chocolate.” Cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/fortheloveofchocolate has further details on all the independent stores it is linking with.
