Cadbury Wispa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the acronym, see WISPA.
A "new" Wispa Bar
A "new" Wispa Bar

Wispa is a chocolate bar made by Cadbury for the U.K. and Ireland market. Subtypes of this bar included Wispa Gold (caramel filling) introduced in 1995, Wispa Bite (caramel and biscuit filling) introduced in 2000, Wispaccino (coffee flavoured filling) and Wispa Mint (mint layer).[1]

The bar was launched in 1981 as a trial version in North East England[2] and with its success it was introduced nationally in 1983.[3] It was seen as a competitor to Nestle's Aero.[2] The bar was seen as a favourite and an icon of the 80s.[3][4] Despite this the product had declining sales and was discontinued as the Wispa in 2003.

In 2003, after its discontinuation, Cadbury brought the Wispa back onto market as "Dairy Milk Bubbly", reformatting it as a standard 'chunks' bar (similar to other 'Dairy Milk' products) instead of the earlier whole-bar approach.[1][4] However, in 2007, helped by an internet campaign, the Wispa bar was relaunched.[3]

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[edit] Relaunch

Since the discontinuation of the Wispa bar in 2003, several internet campaigns and an online petition to bring it back slowly gained momentum. During Iggy Pop's 2007 performance at Glastonbury Festival, several Wispa fans invaded the stage armed with a banner saying "Bring Back Wispa."[2] In addition, several "Bring Back Wispa" groups on Bebo, MySpace and Facebook were set up.[5] In August 2007, these campaigns prompted Cadbury to announce that the bar would be relaunched on October 8, 2007 [6][3] for an initial limited production of 23 million bars, with a permanent return possible if sales are high enough.[3][7] Predictions that the relaunched product would be marketed as Wispa Classic[8] proved unfounded, and the new Wispa hit shelves in similar packaging to the original bar.

On the 24 August 2007, the first box of the relaunched Wispas was put up for auction on eBay, with a press release from Cadbury saying that the auction was real and that the proceeds (the winning bid was £195.00) were going toward the Cadbury Charity, Ghana for the Source.[6]

In February 2008, Rebecca Wells auctioned an original out-of-date Wispa bar, which she found in a sofa,[9] on eBay for the charity LAM Action.[10] The initial winning bid of £2,550 was found by eBay to be "unauthorised".[9] It has since been re-listed, and raised £1000 for the charity.

[edit] Manufacture

The tiny bubbles within the chocolate are formed by aerating the molten chocolate with gas, typically carbon dioxide or nitrogen while at a high pressure which causes microscopic gas bubbles to form within the liquid. The liquid is then brought down to atmospheric pressure as it cools, causing the gas pockets to expand and become trapped in the chocolate.[11]

[edit] Advertising

Original Wispa advertisements featured well known people such as Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne, Victoria Wood, Julie Walters, Simon Cadell, Ruth Madoc,[2] Mel Smith and Peter Cook.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "New name for Wispa bar?", BBC News, 2003-05-07. Retrieved on 2007-08-26. 
  2. ^ a b c d Wallop, Harry (August 20, 2007), Cadbury plans Wispa revival, <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/18/nwispa118.xml>. Retrieved on 26 August 2007 
  3. ^ a b c d e Internet Forces Return Of 80s Icon. Sky News (August 18, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  4. ^ a b Raeburn, Steven (May 27, 2007). Sweet dreams are made of this. Scotsman. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
  5. ^ Cadbury to revive Wispa chocolate bar for limited period. Talking Retail (August 18, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  6. ^ a b First Wispa bars auctioned on Ebay. Cadbury (August 24, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
  7. ^ Web campaign prompts Wispa return. BBC News (August 18, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  8. ^ Cadbury’s re-launch Wispa. UTalkMarketing.com (August 20, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  9. ^ a b 'Rare' Wispa auction in meltdown. BBC (February 11, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
  10. ^ Online bids for 'rare' Wispa bar. BBC (February 10, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
  11. ^ Laughing gas makes best bubbles in chocolate. Food Navigator (August 18, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-27.

[edit] External links