Not since the day that I first saw Men’s Pocky has a candy bar screamed Sexist! like the Yorkie Bar. And even in Pocky’s defense, the idea of a male-flavor has always been more confusing than it has been insulting. This is not the case with Yorkie, whose tagline proudly boasts “It’s Not For Girls!â€
Maybe the makers of Yorkie, Nestle, don’t realize it, but girls are a very large component of the candy market. I mean, our wonderful staff is 75 percent double X chromosome bearing. So it would just seem odd to base a marketing campaign on such a blatant message, but hey, it’s a British candy bar and people in Europe can be a little… well… you know.
Digging into the past of this bar, I learned several things. First, its name derives from the fact that the original makers were Rowntree, who happen to be from York. Makes sense. As for the bar’s “unique†slogan, that one doesn’t add up as well.
The Yorkie prides itself as being an intensely creamy and thick milk chocolate bar, more than your standard Hershey’s or Cadbury Dairy Milk Bars. Apparently, something so rich and intense can only be enjoyed or at least ad-blitzed toward men because a woman is inherently too weak to handle such tastes or they’re smart enough to reason that it’s pointless to make an über-creamy bar that burns your throat.
But enough of my criticism, I bet you’re more concerned with the taste of the bar. The fragrance of the bar is thick, with cream notes emanating from each piece. As I bite into it, there is an undeniable sweetness to it, even for a milk chocolate bar, with hints of raisin. Though the chocolate is grainy, it tastes fairly good, reminding me a lot of a Chunky Bar minus the raisins and nuts. By the end of the bar, I definitely felt my throat twitch under the heavy coat of the dense chocolate, but it paled in comparison to eating a bar of white chocolate.
So despite its ill-conceived pitch, the Yorkie as a candy bar is pretty good. Would I eat one again? Not if I had to buy it. Though it’s a good chocolate bar, especially for a Nestle product, aside from a gourmet bar, I don’t really care much for candy aisle bars that aren’t infused with caramel, nougat, etc…. It being a British bar also makes it a bit harder to come across, and thus more expensive to purchase when you do find one. Had the slogan been more clever, like “It’s Not For Dogs!†(Get it? Dogs shouldn’t eat chocolate and Yorkies are a type of dog), I probably would give into temptation and buy it every now and then.
This is also the same company that got into trouble when I was living in New Zealand when they ran another marketing campaign for their Milo brand that was anti-gay in its presentation. I do get the joke Nestle is attempting to employ, but that doesn’t change the merits of the argument and the stereotypes it reinforces. Democracy happens in the supermarket, not in the polling booth. What we buy sends a message about our beliefs. This is one guy who is sticking with the girls.
Buy Yorkie Online:
- at Amazon.com
I do wonder though… is it maybe some sort of elaborate reverse-psychology campaign? I mean, I’ll admit, when I first saw the side of the bar, against all better judgment, my brain instantly thought, ‘oh yeah? Well if I find one, I’m going to eat it anyways!’.
But the more I thought about it, the more I wonder if that isn’t what they *want* women to think…
Okay, now my brain hurts from over-analyzing bad marketing. I need chocolate… :P
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:13 amI’m actually from York in England, the original place where Roundtrees was created and I think you have the TOTAL wrong end of the stick with this product. I know the guy who came up with this marketing campaign and if you saw the adverts and other merchandise that this chocolate bar contained you would probably understand it more. The fact it is ‘not for girls’ is because it’s an enormous, chunky chocolate bar not a creamy nibbly bar. It’s no nonsense and ‘manly’ and something girls/whimps supposidly can’t handle.
There was actually a limited addition pink bar out for a while especcially for women if they wanted it, and the other bars contain slogans such as ‘no handbags allowed’ etc. I don’t think it’s necessarily aimed at girls, it’s supposed to be for people who couldn’t hack a massive chocolate bar because they were too chicken.
I know Britain certainly havent been offended because that new packaging has been around for about 7 years or so, and its certainly a great chocolate bar!!
I guess you may think ‘British’ people are a bit…you know.. but we just think its a joke.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 amHope this may explain our weirdness some more, I think its certainly a better name than ‘oh Henry!’
Hey Adele, thanks for the background on this bar. I certainly concede that the marketing campaign could totally be lost in the states as I was just walking down a candy aisle and saw this bar with no context for it. I also do get the premise of the slogan, but even if it’s in jest, it still stereotypes both men and women, which is what I object to more than thinking it is a deliberate attack by nestle. I do agree with you though that it is a great tasting bar. Have you tried the raisin and biscuit or honeycomb variations?
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:50 amI don’t think ‘British’ people are a bit…you know. I enjoy a lot of British chocolate and am willing to pay a premium to enjoy it here in America. I just want to make that clear so that you understand that my opinion of this bar is not influenced by my opinion of British people or even by the Yorkie marketing campaign.
This bar is absolutely horrible. It’s a huge block of sickly sweet chocolate that I have no desire to finish. Not because I am a girl or a wuss, but because it is just awful. The unimaginative and boring state of the chocolate bar is the reason that a clever wrapper is needed. If they were honest and said the truth, the wrapper would read
“A boring, sickly sweet, huge hunk of chocolate. We blew it with this one. Please enjoy a Lion bar or a Toffee Crisp instead.”
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:30 pmI ate one of these bars before because I am a TOTAL PUNK RAWKER and don’t bow to authority. That being said, I thought it was pretty bad, overly-sweet and gritty. That burning sensation in your throat is the onset of diabetes.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:30 pmYorkie bars used to be delicous, sadly Nestle have meddled with the recipe and they dont taste anythimg like they used too sadly :(
April 10th, 2012 at 7:49 pmHi! I know this was posted a while ago but I’ve been scrolling through your blog. I’m English so it’s interesting for me to read an American point of view on our confections. As for the ad campaign, here in the U.K. the ‘sexism’ really wasn’t an issue, it’s very much in the British taste in terms of sense of humour, as it’s meant to be ironic and off-beat, so people here find it funny more than offensive. Btw, reading your other British reviews, glad you like fruit pastilles, they are an institution over here haha =)
September 25th, 2012 at 2:44 pm