The new milk chocolate was introduced to the British market in 1905 and,
with its unique flavour and texture, quickly became the market leader.
Milk chocolate was first made by Cadbury in 1897 by blending milk
powder with the basic chocolate ingredients of cocoa butter, cocoa mass
and sugar. By today's standards the chocolate wasn't particularly good -
it was very coarse and dry and neither sweet nor milky enough.
At that time, the Swiss dominate the milk chocolate market with a product of superior taste and
texture produced by Daniel Peters of Vevey, using condensed milk rather than milk powder.
In the early 1900s, George Cadbury Junior and experts at Bournville took on the Swiss,
researching new recipes and production methods.
By June 1904, the recipe was perfected and a delicious rich and creamy new milk chocolate was
ready for production.
Launched in 1905, Cadbury proudly boasted that its new milk chocolate was not only as good
as, but better than the European milk chocolate. With its now-famous glass and a half of full-
cream milk in every 200gms, it contained far more milk than any previously known chocolate.
The special flavours produced when fresh milk, cocoa mass and sugar are cooked together in the
first stages of the chocolate crumb making process give Cadbury Dairy Milk its unique taste.
While advertising and packaging designs have evolved over the years, along with considerable
technological advances in production, the Cadbury Dairy Milk recipe is still basically the same as
it was in 1905.
Cadbury Dairy Milk blocks comes in a range of sizes suitable for all ages and occasions - from a
quick snack, a self-indulgent treat, something to share with family or friends or a gift.
Cadbury Dairy Milk is sold with a similar design worldwide - the centerpiece of all packaging is
the iconic glass and a half image showing the famous glass and a half of pure full cream milk
flowing into a delicious chunk of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate.
Fun Facts
The glass and a half of full cream dairy milk in every 200gm slogan with the picture of milk
pouring into the chocolate block, is one of the all-time greats of advertising.
Australians prefer creamier milk chocolate, with the Cadbury Dairy Milk brand being the
market leader.
Dairy Milk chocolate is the main ingredient of many other Cadbury chocolate favourites such as
Freddo.
The original Cadbury milk chocolate faded into obscurity in 1915.
The largest moulded bar in the world was made by Cadbury Limited in October 1998 to
celebrate the re-launch of Cadbury Dairy Milk. The giant 1.1 tonne block was nearly 9ft high
and 4 ft wide. It would take an average person 120 years to eat!
It takes the whole year's crop from one tree to make 450gms of Chocolate.
Memorable Advertising
With its simple message of the goodness associated with the glass and a
half of full cream dairy milk, this successful advertising campaign began
in 1928 and served Cadbury Dairy Milk admirably until the late 1980s.
A change in advertising strategy in the 1990s saw a greater emphasis
placed on ‘taste’ in the bold Chocolate is Cadbury campaign.
The message reinforced that no other chocolate compares with the taste of
Cadbury, while successful elements of previous campaign such as the
‘glass and a half’ were still included.
The clever imagery of this television campaign played on the theme that chocolate means different
things to different people at different times, but most importantly, Chocolate is Cadbury.
