Cadbury Fair Trade Ad

Posted by in Misc on September 30 2009 | Leave A Comment

You know, I’m all for Cadbury’s new Fair Trade credentials, but this latest (5 minute!) ad is one of their most bizarre yet. I just hope the hallucinogens their marketing people are using are fairly traded too…

I’d love to hear what you think – both of the video and the whole Fair Trade Dairy Milk thing.

Leave a comment!

Information

You might also like...

Comments On This Post

  1. lottie

    well…
    well, well..
    words escape me I’m afraid. I think I need a little lie down after that.

    I’m very impressed cadbury’s gone fair trade though. Kudos and applause.

  2. The incongruity of a company based in an Art Deco building in a leafy Birmingham suburb and that. Strange. Does the floating head sucking all the cocoa out of the jungle represent Cadbury?

  3. joe

    Holy moley. I can only assume this is indicative of Cadbury’s exploitation all the way. First they weaken the notion of fairtrade then they think we’re going to buy it by forcing poor africans to dance.

  4. Simon

    Going Fairtrade can never be a bad maove – after all Cadbury shifts megatons of cocoa, so at least the farmers are getting a better deal.
    Maybe they’re thinking of going into the record business?

  5. Cool visuals and interesting music but as for the message…”Just what were those Cadbury ‘Mad Men’ smokin?”

    As for the worth of their fairer trading venture…lets ask the producers in five years time!

    Cheers
    Scott

  6. regardless of my feelings about Cadbury, I love the advert.

  7. WTF.

    At the 1 minute mark the spinning head has me thinking that life is too short for this crap.

    By the 2 minute mark the idea of a big head covered in little happy smily face cocoa pods has me thinking “oh crikey how twee”.

    By 2:43 we have an American rapper. How authentic for Africa. Sorry, you’ve lost me. Rap is not music. the 2 1/2 minute music and dance segment is a classic from advertising 101: “If you have nothing to say in selling your product, sing about it.” Gah.

    By the end, I’m left thinking “well that’s 5 minutes of my life wasted that I’ll never get back”.

    Bizarre. Utterly, utterly bizarre.

  8. Dom (Chocablog Staff)

    I kinda like it myself. I thought it had a nice African vibe, and as far as I’m aware everyone in the ad – including the singer – is Ghanaian, just like the cocoa beans.

    And Simon – yes, you can buy it on iTunes on “Glass And A Half Full Records”.

    Of course none of this changes the fact that Dairy Milk is still mainly sugar & vegetable fat.

  9. Del

    Offensive really and I would think offensive to most african people, it makes them look downright silly with every sterotype under the sun. Cadbury going fairtrade…is that supposed to make them feel better for 100+ years of exploitation of the Ghanaian Coacoa farmer, they should be ashamed. very poor marketing.

  10. Leigh

    Yes, offensive!!! It is encouraging to find a mainstream chocolate producer adopting fairtrade practices, but what the hell were they thinking in this patronizing attempt to erase decades of NON-FAIRTRADE practices? Pull it.

  11. Well, I am glad they went fair trade…and I do find the song…funky. Dunno what to say about the giant head though..maybe it’s a little…much?!

  12. chockydocky

    How on earth is this offensive? Comments like that on anything nowadays are really annoying when they have no actual basis. The head was carved/built/designed by genuine Ghanaians. Its filmed in a genuine Ghanainan village. A genuine Ghanaian artist (Tinny: Ghana’s number one Hip Life artist) has written a song with proceeds helping youth in Ghana. He sings it for real to the village who are, in Ghana, all massive fans of his, and all party. Its a celebration of a good cause/a music promo. How is this patronising? You’re being patronising by thinking it’s patronsing (lol). Everyone is so quick to jump on the PC wagon nowadays. You can’t win! I for one think its great, uplifting and shines a light on Ghana – its music, people and traditions. And if you read up on Cadbury they have actually been trading fairly with Ghana for 101 years unlike other companies. Its only now that they get the fair trade badge.

  13. Leigh

    Thanks for the info, ok i wasn’t exactly clued up. Wouldn’t call myself PC actually, but i do a lot of work promoting equality and justice (which has got me into much un-PC trouble). If what you say is the case, fair enough, I can’t see it as patronizing.

  14. Dom (Chocablog Staff)

    Well it seems it hasn’t gone down too well in Ghana – or at least with people claiming to represent Ghanaian interests:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/cadbury-accused-of-racial-stereotyping-in-chocolate-advert-1801020.html

  15. Svetlana

    I love the song soooo much!!! can someone plz tell me whats its called coz i’ll luv to put it on my Ipod 😀

  16. Dom (Chocablog Staff)

    Svetlana: It’s called ‘Zingolo’ by Tinny and it’s on iTunes:

    http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=331523987&id=331523984&s=143444

  17. Lili

    To all who find it offensive, you have obviously never partied in Africa, Nobody forces and African to Dance, the fabric of our very being is music, for pain,joy whatever, we will sing and dance about it.
    Love to all xx

  18. Laura

    in my opinion it doesnt show ghanians to be ‘simpletons’, which is what i have read in another set of commentaries. quite the contrary, i feel it shows them to be up beat, fun loving and now, having read chockydocky’s comments regarding the villagers having made the giant head thing, i think them to be totally on the ball!
    i personally love the fun and freedom of this advert, and yes you could say that the only indication that is is a cadbury ad is the bit at the beginning, but to be fair, you could say that about the gorilla ad (thought that was at the end of the ad, but its the same premise).
    all in all, i like the ad and the fact that these people seem genuinely happy to be trading with cadbury serves its purpose in making me want to buy their chocolate.

  19. jon

    If you believe Cadburys is fair trade, you are an idiot.

  20. ian

    well ashleigh after analyzing the advert for 5 mins wasting your life you then spent another gow knows how many minutes thinking of what to say on this site

    all i can say is you must have nothing better to do or you wouldnt have even left a comment

    personnaly i think it’s very catchy

    and i bet you have watched it a couple more times since leaving your comment and told a load of friends how to view it
    i reckon you will also download the music and have it as a ringtone within the month

  21. Clive

    So jon perhaps you can explain to us what makes you such an expert on Cadburys and fair trade?

  22. bagpus

    though it’s the folks at Divine chocolate who are now providing the cocoa for dairy milk, they still get paid less than they do for their own brand Divine – so justice wise, best to buy divine choc!! Divine is owned and run by ghanaian cocoa farmers themselves….

  23. Del Frazer

    Well to be honest with you guys, i dont really know anything about all this Fairtrade stuff, so i can not comment on something i know very little if anything about. However the song that go’s with the ad is simply FANTASTIC,,,, how can i get hold of a copy?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

  24. Steve Smith

    I love this ad!!! The music and rythym is so Africa! I used to live in Nigeria and I swear this street scene could be filmed in my old town. It is so colourful and represents so much of daily life there. The colours, music, smiles and characters are awesome! I love Africa!

  25. Paul Fegan

    ok lets get one thing straight. cadburys have not gone fair trade. cadburys diary milk have ‘gone fair trade’. so tell me, why only one of their products and not all of their products….il tell you why. to make money. advertising campaign. by making one product ‘fair trade’ they have convinced people into thinking that cadburys as a whole are fair trade, nothing but a marketing technique. if they really cared, then all of their products would be fair trade.
    please dont get sucked into buying a cadburys product now the ONE of their products are ‘fair trade’.

  26. Bec

    I would have to agree with Adrian, Is Cadbury being represented by a giant head sucking the cocoa out of Africa?
    All too true Paul, only one line of chocolate going fair trade is pathetic. There is no reason why they can’t go totally fair trade except for greed on their behalf.
    The add is a waste of marketing money that doesn’t make sense!

Leave a comment




Chocablog: Chocolate Blog