Picnic (chocolate bar) facts for kids
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A UK/Irish Picnic split in half
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| Owner | Mondelez International |
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| Introduced | 1959 |
The Picnic is a yummy chocolate bar made by Cadbury. It's known for its unique mix of ingredients. Inside, you'll find milk chocolate, crunchy peanuts, chewy nougat, sweet caramel, crispy biscuit, and puffed rice. Picnic bars often have a bumpy, "lumpy" shape.
You can find Picnic bars in many places around the world. These include Australia, New Zealand, India, Ireland, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. In South Africa, it's sold as "Lunch Bar." Some versions, like those in the UK and India, also have raisins.
Contents
The Story of Picnic Bars
How Picnic Began
The very first Picnic bar was created in Australia in 1950. It was made by a company called MacRobertson Chocolates. Around the same time, a company called Fry also started selling Picnic bars in the UK.
Cadbury Takes Over
In 1967, Cadbury bought MacRobertson Chocolates. This was a big deal because MacRobertson was a well-known Australian candy maker. This purchase helped Cadbury grow even more. It also meant that popular Australian treats like Picnic, Cherry Ripe, and Freddo Frog became part of the Cadbury family.
Fun Slogans and Ads
Over the years, Picnic bars have had some memorable advertising. In the early 2000s, a slogan called it "Deliciously ugly." In the 1970s, the Australian slogan was "More like a banquet than a picnic."
In the early 1990s, a funny TV commercial in the UK featured a singing camel named Calvin. Calvin sang a silly song about the ingredients of the chocolate bar. The ad was also shown in Russia and Ukraine.
Different Picnic Flavors
Special Editions
Sometimes, Cadbury releases special versions of the Picnic bar. In Australia, there have been limited-edition flavors like:
- Picnic Honeycomb: A Picnic bar with crunchy honeycomb pieces.
- Picnic Hedgehog: This one has extra biscuit pieces.
- Picnic Rocky Road: It includes mini marshmallows and gumdrops.
In 2010, a special Almond Picnic bar came out in New Zealand. It's now also available in Australia as the "Roast Almond Feast." In 2011, a fruit and nut Picnic bar was released in Australia.
Picnic in Russia
As of 2018, Russia has two main types of Picnic bars. There's the classic one with peanuts and raisins. There's also a version with walnuts, which was first a limited edition but became a regular flavor.
Changes in Size
Over time, the size of the standard Picnic bar has changed a few times.
- In April 2009, the weight of a standard Picnic bar went from 50 grams down to 48.4 grams.
- Then, in August 2014, the weight in Australia changed again to 46 grams. The bar also became a bit narrower, even though it still used the old size wrapper.
- In the UK, the standard bar weighed 48.4 grams as of 2018. Smaller 38-gram bars are also sold in multipacks.
Fun Facts About Picnic
Catchy Slogans and Ads
In the early 2000s, a popular saying for the Picnic bar was "Deliciously ugly." This slogan highlighted its unique, lumpy look. In the 1970s, the slogan in Australia was "More like a banquet than a picnic." This meant it was so full of good stuff, it felt like a big feast!
In the early 1990s, a funny TV commercial for Picnic aired in the UK. It featured a singing camel named Calvin. Calvin was an Animatronic camel. He sang a funny version of the song "Spirit in the Sky." The song lyrics described all the yummy ingredients in the chocolate bar. Words like "Chew" and "Goo" were chanted. The commercial also showed captions, like a music video show. These captions gave funny facts. The ad's main message was: "There’s no goo in it when Calvin’s chewin’ it." This commercial was also shown in Russia and Ukraine. The captions were translated for those countries.
See also
