Smash (instant mashed potato) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Smash

Owner	Premier Foods
Introduced	1960s
Markets	United Kingdom
Previous owners	Cadbury
Registered as a trademark in	United Kingdom (1973)
Tagline	"For Mash Get Smash"

Smash is a well-known brand of Instant mashed potatoes in the United Kingdom. It was first introduced in the UK during the 1960s by a company called Cadbury. At that time, Cadbury was mostly famous for making chocolates and sweets. Smash quickly became quite popular.

However, Smash became even more famous in 1974. This happened after Cadbury started a very clever advertising campaign. These adverts featured funny characters called the Smash Martians. The Martians would watch humans on TV making mashed potatoes the old-fashioned way, from scratch. They would then laugh at how much effort it took, especially when people could just use Smash instant potato granules!

The adverts from the 1970s were a huge hit. Their catchy slogan, 'For Mash get Smash', became very well known. Campaign Magazine even voted these adverts the "television advert of the century". In April 2000, a poll by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 ranked them as the second-best TV advert of all time. Only the "Surfer" advert for Guinness was rated higher.

Since then, the Smash brand has been sold by Cadbury. It is now owned by Premier Foods. This company, using their Batchelors brand, launched a "healthier recipe" version of Smash in 2006.

Why Was Smash So Popular?

The original Smash advertisements from the 1970s are still remembered today. They have appeared on many lists of the "best ever television advertisements."