21st October 2011, on the menu today...
Cadbury Buttons
.JPG)
Even when I am old and practically immobile I'll probably still find a way to sneak in the odd bag of Cadbury Buttons. Everything from the delightful name with its playful connotations of childhood to the confectioneries miniature-sized nature exudes a charm that I've never been able to shake - and, to be honest, never have wanted to.
Design:
Yesteryear:
(Above: Screenshots from third-party YouTube videos)
Ahhh, the Buttons of my childhood. The smart font design of the gold Cadbury logo along with that lovely purple background brought a touch of class to the confectionery and even the 'Buttons' text retained a degree of smartness with its small serifs. Indeed, what is so lovely about this design of old is the way in which Cadbury conveyed the childish nature of the product without sacrificing a certain level of smartness that communicated a specialness about the product.
Today:
.JPG)
.JPG)
Front: Even though the small purple packet remains, there are a number of changes to the design: the 'b' in Buttons has gone from upper to lower case - presumably in order to convey a more childlike feel; the balance between the principal graphic and text has changed with the former appearing larger and more dominant; a 'Dairy Milk' logo has been added between the manufacturer and product names; the gold Cadbury text is now much smaller and squashed in to the top left hand corner of product to make space for the new Fairtrade logo on the right; and, finally, the now standard 'Be treatwise' calorie content message appears in the bottom right hand corner of the packet.
Overall, the essence of the design remains the same but, like so many others these days, it suffers from the plague of overcluttering. Whether it is superfluous or just ill-placed content, once clean, visually striking designs are tending towards a more busy appearance that just don't have the same impact. I understand the merits of more information but at the same time there has to be a limit and certainly a lot more sensitivity shown for the overall aesthetic.
Back: This is standard fare. Design devices have been employed well to draw attention to important text and make it easy for consumers to distinguish between different pieces of information.
Taste:
.JPG)
Cadbury Buttons certainly don't disappoint on this front. If you compare their ingredient's list with the one on a bar of Dairy Milk you will see they are identical; however, the taste experience is still quite different. I presume the principal factor in this is Buttons' smaller size, increased surface area and, thus, quicker melt. In any case, all those milky sweet flavours one one would associate with Dairy Milk come through making for a very additive product.
TV Advertising:
History:
Launched in 1960 and now sold in Australia, Canada, Ireland and the UK, Cadbury Buttons are small, disc shaped pieces of Dairy Milk. More recently, white chocolate and giant-sized milk chocolate variants have been added to the Button's brand.
Related TGBD Articles:
Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel (Cadbury's Caramel)
Web Links:
Fellow food bloggers:
It's All About Limited Edition