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Yorkie (chocolate bar)

Yorkie is a chocolate bar made by Nestlé.[1] It was originally made by York-based company Rowntree's, hence the name.

History

In 1976, Eric Nicoli of Rowntree's spotted a gap in the confectionery market for a "manly" chocolate bar, and so the company launched Yorkie as a chunkier competitor to Cadbury's Dairy Milk.[2] Production was at York and Norwich until 1994.[3]

The Yorkie bar has historically been marketed towards men. From the bar's launch until 1992, the "Yorkie bar trucker" was the famous "rough, tough star" of the brand's television adverts.[4] Another prominent ad from this period was a billboard at York railway station with the words "Welcome to" and a picture of a half unwrapped Yorkie bar. Thus the advert read "Welcome to York". Further text beneath said "Where the men are hunky and the chocolate's chunky".[5]

In 2002, the bar's relaunch campaign made this positioning more explicit, with the addition of a wrapper tagline reading "It's not for girls!", as well as associated £3 million television and print advertisements that featured a variety of sexist slogans.[4][6] One of these campaigns provoked 97 complaints to the Advertising Standards Agency on grounds of sexism in its first year, but the ASA eventually ruled that these complaints were not justified.[7] However, an associated promotional campaign in which free sample bars were handed out exclusively to men was banned by Liverpool's and Birmingham's councils.[8] In 2006, a pink-wrapped special edition was released as an ironic play on the "not for girls" branding, with this edition marketed towards women.[9][10] In 2011, the "It's Not for Girls!" slogan was dropped,[6][10] and standard Yorkie bars became available in three packs.

Aside from the original milk chocolate bar, several variants are available, including a "raisin and biscuit" flavour, "honeycomb" flavour, and Yorkie ice cream. A special version for use in Ministry of Defence ration packs was also produced, with its tagline reading "It's not for civvies".[11]

Size changes

Yorkie bars were originally composed of six chunks of chocolate each marked Rowntree; they were wrapped in both foil and an outer paper wrapper and weighed 58 g.[12][13] The wrapping was later switched to a single plastic foil wrapper. More recently, in an effort to reduce costs, the number of chunks was reduced to five with "Yorkie" moulded into each chunk. The weight of the bar has decreased over the years. In 2002, Yorkie bars were 70 g.[14] This had been reduced to 64.5 g by 2010, and was reduced further to 61 g in 2011 and then 55 g later that year. It was shrunk again in November 2014 to 46 g. In January 2015, United Kingdom, Raisin & Biscuit Yorkies were 44 g. Limited edition Yorkie Peanut was 43 g. Yorkie King size bars have also reduced in size.[14]

Flavours

  • Original (milk chocolate)[15]
  • Raisin & Biscuit
  • Honeycomb[16]
  • Orange ('Limited Edition' launched on 10 May 2021)[17]
  • Peanut (discontinued, relaunched as a 'Limited Edition' on 13 October 2014, now discontinued again)[18]
  • Almond (discontinued)
  • "The Nutter" (mixed nuts – discontinued)
  • Yorkie Biscuit and Brownie ('Limited Edition', launched in 2025)
  • Yorkie Blue Ice (crunchy mint flavoured chips – discontinued)[19]
  • Yorkie Hot Stuff Hot Rum (rum flavour Christmas limited edition)
  • Biscuit (biscuit made with Yorkie original chocolate) – discontinued in 2024[20]
  • Yorkie Pro (protein chocolate with crispy pieces – protein: 24.7 g per 100 g / 10.5 g per serving)
  • Yorkie Salted Caramel Pretzel[21]

Other information

Yorkie sponsored the Stealth roller coaster at Thorpe Park.[22]

See also

Further reading

External links

References

  1. Yorkie Nestlé, retrieved 25 December 2012^
  2. Steve Berry, Phil Norman. A History of Sweets in 50 Wrappers The Friday Project, 2014^
  3. Yorkie 1977–1975, context yorkshirefilmarchive.com, Yorkshire Film Archive, retrieved 13 April 2016^
  4. Julia Day. Yorkie bans women The Guardian, 27 March 2002, retrieved 25 December 2012^
  5. Yorkie turns 40 - famous sign to be recreated in York The Yorkshire Press, 2 February 2016, retrieved 16 June 2021^
  6. Will Heilpern. How Yorkie came to be the world's first openly sexist chocolate bar Business Insider, Insider Inc., 15 March 2016, retrieved 28 July 2022^
  7. ASA rejects Yorkie poster complaints Marketing Week, Centaur Media, 8 May 2003, retrieved 28 May 2022^
  8. Angry shopper attacks Yorkie woman BBC News, 20 April 2002, retrieved 1 February 2022^
  9. Bids flood in on ebay as Yorkie for the girls proves a massive hit The Yorkshire Press, 2 February 2005, retrieved 1 February 2022^
  10. Lowenna Waters. Would the Yorkie 'it's not for girls' slogan go down well in 2018? Here's what people think Indy100, The Independent, 23 October 2018, retrieved 28 July 2022^
  11. Interesting Facts and Info about Yorkie Chocolate Bars allsweetsandtreats.com.au, All Sweets and Treats, 8 September 2016, retrieved 2 November 2018^
  12. Original Yorkie Advert 3 May 2010, retrieved 5 November 2013^
  13. Yorkie image (Rowntree's) ayrshirehistory.com, retrieved 1 October 2012^
  14. Nick Webb. It may not be for girls, but Yorkie no longer man-sized Irish Independent, 10 October 2010, retrieved 13 April 2019^
  15. Nestle Yorkie Original Taquitos.net, January 2005, retrieved 5 November 2013^
  16. Nestle Yorkie Honeycomb Taquitos.net, February 2005, retrieved 5 November 2013^
  17. Éilis Cronin. Nestlé unveils limited edition orange Yorkie talkingretail.com, Talking Retail, 23 April 2021, retrieved 8 February 2024^
  18. Nestlé unveils limited edition Yorkie Peanut talkingretail.com, Talking Retail, 10 October 2014, retrieved 8 February 2024^
  19. Yorkie Blue Ice Taquitos.net, December 2005, retrieved 21 November 2014^
  20. Nestlé axes classic Breakaway bar after 54 years BBC News, 8 February 2024, retrieved 8 February 2024^
  21. Shyama Laxman. Exclusive: Yorkie launches Salted Caramel Pretzel Duo bar Better Retailing, 27 February 2026, retrieved 11 April 2026^
  22. Case Studies merlinsponsorship.com, retrieved 25 December 2012^