Yowie (chocolate) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Yowie

Yowie is a fun chocolate brand that started in Australia in 1995. It was first made by Cadbury and quickly became one of Australia's most popular chocolates. Over a million Yowie chocolates were sold every week!

After a break, Yowie came back in 2014 for stores in the United States. An Australian company called the Yowie Group bought the brand in 2012. Yowie chocolates returned to Australia and New Zealand in 2017.

The Story of Yowie

The idea for Yowie came from two creative people: Geoff Pike and Bryce Courtenay. Geoff Pike loved Australia's wild places and its unique animals. He spent time helping injured and orphaned creatures.

Later, Geoff used his love for nature to create the Yowie Kingdom. This is a magical, make-believe world where threatened animals can live safely. The name "Yowie" comes from an old Australian folklore story about a mysterious creature.

To protect this special kingdom, Geoff Pike created six Yowie characters. Each Yowie is linked to a famous Australian animal and guards a different type of wild home:

• Boof the Bottlebrush Yowie: He is like a bandicoot and protects rainforests and mountains.
• Crag the Mangrove Yowie: He is like a Saltwater crocodile and protects swamps and wetlands.
• Ditty the Lillipilli Yowie: She is like a wombat and protects woodlands and meadows.
• Nap the Honeygum Yowie: He is like a koala and protects forests and bushland.
• Rumble the Redgum Yowie: He is like a red kangaroo and protects deserts and plains.
• Squish the Fiddlewood Yowie: He is like a platypus and protects rivers and streams.

There are also animal friends for each Yowie and Balthizar the Bunyip, who rules the Yowie Kingdom. But not everything is peaceful! Geoff also created the Grumkins. These are careless creatures that try to harm the Yowie Kingdom. They show the dangers that real natural places face. Some Grumkins are:

• Munch: He causes careless building and is Rumble's enemy.
• Blob and Ooz: They represent pollution and are enemies of Crag and Squish.
• Spark: He causes careless fires and is Nap's enemy.
• Slob: He causes littering and is Ditty's enemy.
• Chomp the Tiger Toothed Tree Chomper: He causes deforestation (cutting down trees) and is Boof's enemy.

Geoff Pike and Bryce Courtenay thought a chocolate product would be a great way to share the Yowie story. In 1994, they shared their idea with the chocolate company Cadbury.

Yowie's First Launch

After three years of planning, Cadbury launched Yowie chocolates in 1997. Each Yowie was a chocolate shell shaped like a character. Inside, there was a plastic capsule. This capsule held a small, buildable model of an Australian or New Zealand animal. It also came with a leaflet that had facts about the animal and building instructions.

The first collection had 50 different animals and models of the six Yowie characters. Geoff Pike and Bryce Courtenay kept the rights to the Yowie idea.

Cadbury Yowie was a huge hit! It sold over one million chocolates every week. In its first year, enough Yowies were sold for every person in Australia to have 2.5 of them. The brand won many awards, including "Best Global Supermarket Product" in Paris in 1997. Yowie chocolates were also sold in Singapore, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Yowie Books and Toys

When Cadbury Yowie came out, a series of books was also released. These books told stories about the Yowie characters protecting their homes from the Grumkins. Geoff Pike and Bryce Courtenay wrote the books. They sold more than 2 million copies and were best-sellers for children's books in Australia.

Many other Yowie products were made too, like soft toys, clothes, games, activity books, and music CDs. People loved collecting the Yowie models. Clubs formed for collectors to show off and trade their Yowie toys.

More Yowie Collections

After the first successful collection, new Yowie series were released.

• The second series came out in 1998 with 50 new animals.
• The third series, released in 1999, had 50 animal figures and six small Grumkin models. This series was very common and lasted until 2005.
• The fourth series, released in late 1999, featured "Yowie World" collectables. These included animals from all over the world, not just Australia and New Zealand. It also had special crystal Yowies and a Lord Balthizzar figure. This series also lasted until 2005.

Yowie and the Lost Kingdoms

In 2000, Yowie worked with the Australian Museum to create Yowie and the Lost Kingdoms. This collection featured models of extinct animals from long ago, like dinosaurs and giant Australian animals. The museum even had an exhibition with fossils linked to the series.

There were three parts to this series:

• Series A had 50 prehistoric figures and six special skull models.
• Series B, released in 2001, had 30 figures and six glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs.
• Series C, the final part released in 2002, had 30 figures and six "dazzling dinosaurs."

Yowie Adventures

In 2001, Yowie Adventures was released. This series was based on comic-strip stories where the Yowies saved endangered animals from the Grumkins. It had 30 different figures, including animals, enemies, and helpers. This series was known for being harder to find. A second release of this series came out in 2002 with more animal figures.

Yowie Forgotten Friends

The Yowie Forgotten Friends series came out in 2003 and 2004. This collection focused on animals that had recently become extinct. It taught kids about how important it is to protect animals and their homes.

"Series A" had 30 figures and six glow-in-the-dark Yowies. "Series B" in 2004 had five special glow-in-the-dark Grumkins.

Yowie's Return

Cadbury stopped making Yowie chocolates in 2005. But in 2012, a new company called Yowie Group was formed to bring the brand back! They designed a new series of 24 solid, one-piece collectables. These included 18 animals and six Yowie character models. The new design made the toys look more real and safer.

The first new collection featured these animals:

• African Grass Owl
• Alpaca
• American Bison
• Brown Bear
• Caracal
• Common Clownfish
• Emperor Penguin
• European Rabbit
• Fennec Fox
• Galapagos Tortoise
• Giant Anteater
• Giant Panda
• Gray Wolf
• North American Beaver
• Platypus
• Polar Bear
• Red Kangaroo
• Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat

In July 2014, the new Yowie products went on sale in the United States. They were very popular at first. Yowie chocolates were allowed to be sold in the US because their special design made the toys inside easy to see, which helped with safety rules.

Yowie products returned to stores in Australia and New Zealand in April 2017.

In 2018, an animated TV show called Yowasis was made. It had seven episodes and was narrated by actor Mel Gibson.

Images for kids

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  A Yowie chocolate with a surprise toy inside.