Caramello Koala

Caramello Koala is a brand of chocolate treat currently manufactured by Cadbury Australia. It consists of a chocolate cartoon koala (named "George" in certain advertising material) with a caramel centre.

Caramello Koala
A Cadbury's Caramello Koala split in half
Product typeConfectionery
OwnerCadbury Australia
CountryAustralia and United Kingdom
Introduced1966 (1966)
MarketsAustralia and United Kingdom
WebsiteProduct website

The chocolate bar is sold in two sizes: the more common 15 g (0.53 oz) size and the "Giant" 35 g (1.2 oz) size, usually sold as a fundraiser. 50 million Caramello Koalas are sold in Australia each year, making the product the second most popular in the Australian children's confectionery market, after the Freddo Frog.[1]

Cross-over products are occasionally made available featuring the Caramello character, including Cadbury Caramello Koala Choc Caramel flavoured milk in 2003 and Caramello Koala Sundae ice-cream in 1997. They were also sold in South Africa under the name "Caramello Bear", where they were marketed with the Caramello Bear admitting: "Caramel? That's a weakness!", but they were discontinued in 2012. The Afrikaans slogan for the Caramello Bear in South Africa was "Met 'n magie propvol caramel", which translates to "with a tummy full of caramel".

A 20g Caramello Koala contains 415 kJ (99,000 cal) of energy and 5.5 g (0.19 oz) of fat.

Caramello Koala was introduced in Australia as the Caramello Bear in 1966. It was reputedly the first mass-marketed confection to be modeled on Australian fauna. Television advertisements for the chocolate in Australia featured Caramello and his cartoon friends sailing down a river or riding on a steam train to a modified version of Donovan's "Mellow Yellow". Caramello's packaging and imagery was updated in 2000, aftermarket research revealed the character was seen as daggy, one-dimensional and not sufficiently 'animated'.[1]

In 2003, then Australian Labor Party MP, Mark Latham, was labelled a "Caramello Koala" by Liberal MP Christopher Pyne, for allegedly being "soft in the centre".[2]

To deal with rising input costs, in April 2015 Cadbury announced a reduction in size of the 20 g (0.71 oz) chocolate to 15 g (0.53 oz). Despite the 25% size reduction, the price is unchanged.[3][4] The giant Caramello Koala has also been reduced from 40 g (1.4 oz) to 35 g (1.2 oz).

See also

References
  1. 'Caramello Koala gets new look', Packaging, 30 November 1999.
  2. Ramsay, Alan (7 June 2003). "If Labor's nut has gone soft inside, try the blancmange". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012.
  3. Collier, Karen (19 April 2015). "Caramello Koala to share same fate as shrinking Freddo". Herald Sun. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  4. Mitchell, Sue (20 April 2015). "Mondelez Australia profit soars after tax credit". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015.
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