Several days ago we posted a couple of images from overseas, and commented on their respective levels of commitment to political correctness.
It was our belief that the politically incorrect image of the “Yorkie” chocolate bar, which sports the tag line “Not For Girls!”, would never be possible here in America, where the political correctness fascists hold sway over an apathetically willing populous.
We were wrong! The Yorkie has been spotted in the wild on store shelves in America, in the imported foods section.
Other than political correctness as an obstacle, our feeling was it would be an inefficient use of advertising dollars to market a product in a way that alienates any portion of the potential market. We just didn’t think Nestle would make that choice in the US.
Curiosity has gotten the better of us, and so we’ve done some research into the candy bar, the way it’s marketed in Europe, and some reactions to the controversial campaign.
Here is one of their ads from the TV campaign:
And another:
Our description of the “original” candy bar (pictured in blue on the left)… If you have ever eaten a Chunky bar (also made by Nestle), picture that without the peanuts and raisins. Also, instead of the squares arranged 2×2, they are 1×4. That’ a Yorkie. It’s very good thick chocolate.
This pre-Nestle “It’s Not For Girls” era ad for Yorkie even uses the word chunky in it’s marketing:
And another:
What came first, the Rowntrees Yorkie “Chunky Milk Chocolate” bar, or the Nestle Chunky bar?
Here is a very thoughtful blogger reaction from a site called “The F Word – Contemporary UK Feminism”:
Nestle claims to be taking a stand for the “British bloke” and says that by making a chocolate “just for men”, they are offering men something just for them in a changing, confusing world. They have actually used the word “reclaiming”, as if women have “taken” chocolate away from men – despite the obvious fact that chocolate is mainly marketed to women by the people who create it. But from the ads, they seem to be targeting not “British men” but British, large, bearded, macho, builders. That’s gotta be a limited market, guys. Using the most hackneyed stereotypes, the Yorkie ads seem to be trying to say that eating chocolate is an okay thing for a man to be seen to be doing; it isn’t a cissy thing to do, it’s not emasculating. [READ MORE...]
It will be interesting to see what Nestle does with this product in the U.S. and how people here receive the gender biased marketing.
