A Cadbury Creme Egg is a brand of chocolate egg produced by Cadbury-Schweppes. The egg has a thick milk chocolate "shell", with a white and yellow fondant filling designed to resemble the yolk and albumen of an egg.
Creme eggs are usually sold individually, but are also available in packets of three, four, six, and twelve, and in boxes of fifteen and twenty four. The foil wrapping of the eggs is traditionally red, yellow and blue in colour in the United Kingdom, with some green incorporated into the design in the United States, and previously featured the product's mascot--the Creme Egg Chick. The brand has proven to be extremely popular worldwide, and in the UK Creme Eggs are the best selling confectionery item between January 1st and Easter, with annual sales in excess of 200 million items [1] and a brand value of approximately £45m[2].
Manufacture
While filled eggs were first manufactured by the Cadbury Brothers in the early 1920s, the Creme Egg in its current form was not released until 1971.
Creme Eggs are manufactured by making a chocolate shell in a half-egg shaped mould, which is then filled with white fondant and a dab of yellow fondant to simulate the yolk. Two mould halves are closed very quickly and cooled to allow the chocolate to set. When the moulds are opened, the eggs fall onto a conveyor which transports them to the foiling machines and then to the finished packing. The eggs are manufactured at the Bournville factory in Birmingham at the rate of 1.5 million per day, and also at other Cadbury factories in countries such as New Zealand.
Product Specification
One Creme Egg weighs 1.4 oz. and contains approximately 170 calories.[3] While many people feel that the size has diminished since its introduction in 1971, Cadbury maintains "It hasn't - you've just grown up!" [4]
Over the years, Cadbury has introduced a number of products related to the original Creme Egg, including:
- Mini Creme Eggs (bite-sized Creme Eggs)
- Caramel Eggs (soft caramel filling)
- Mini Caramel Eggs (bite-sized Caramel Eggs)
- Chocolate Creme Eggs (chocolate fondant filling)
- Dream Eggs (white chocolate with white chocolate fondant filling)
- Dairy Milk Creme Egg bars
- Creme Egg Fondant In a Narrow Cardboard Tube (limited edition)
Advertising
In recent times, the creme egg has been marketed in the UK and Ireland with the question "How do you eat yours?" and in Australia with the slogan "Don't get caught with egg on your face". Australia has also used a variation of the UK question, using the slogan "How do you do it?" Over the years, there have been several major Cadbury's Creme Egg campaigns.
- "Shopkeeper" campaign of the 1970s in which a boy asks for 6000 Cadbury Creme Eggs.
- "Irresistibly" campaign showing characters prepared to do something unusual for a Creme Egg, similar to the "What would you do for a Klondike Bar?" campaign.
- 1985: The "How Do You Eat Yours?" campaign begins.
- 1990-1993: The first TV Advertising campaign to feature the "How Do You Eat Yours?" theme. This was achieved through the zodiac signs.
- 1994-1996: Spitting Image characters continued "How Do You Eat Yours?"
- 1997-1999: George Dawes (Matt Lucas) from Reeves & Mortimer Shooting Stars. The catchphrase was "I've seen the future, and it's egg shaped!"
- 2000-2003: The "Pointing Finger" campaign.
- 2004: The 'Roadshow' finger campaign
- 2005: 'The Eggmeister Returns' campaign
- 2004-2006: The 'How Do You Eat Yours?' campaign
In North America, Creme Eggs are advertised on television with a small white rabbit called the Cadbury Bunny (alluding to the Easter Bunny) who clucks like a chicken. Ads for caramel eggs use a larger gold-colored rabbit which also clucks, and chocolate eggs use a large brown rabbit which clucks in a deep voice. The advertisements use the slogan "No bunny knows Easter better than him", spoken by TV personality Mason Adams.