A chocolate ad from the 80s…
…dusted off a memory for me this week and suddenly I was 11 all over again.
The action revolved around a chick in a long, flowing white dress and floppy, wide-brimmed hat. She seemed to float along, oblivious to the dude sipping his wine, watching her. So captivated was he by the chocolate in her wicker basket, he quickly put on his own hat and followed her…
And the lyrics melt over the melody…
No other chocolate looks like Flake looks.
No other chocolate tastes like Flake tastes.
Full of Cadbury Dairy Milk,
Feel it crumble and melt in your mouth.
Cue a slowed down, close-up of the woman’s thin, glossy lips just as the dude pops his head through the bushes.
No other chocolate does it to you, like Flake does…
That vintage jingle popped into my head faster than you can say, cocoa stalker. We’re talking word-perfect recognition. But, why?
Back in ’81 I may have enjoyed a little flaky chocolate (my tastebuds were not yet wise to the bittersweet pleasures of 70% dark bars.), so why did singing those confected lyrics feel like I was reciting Byron?
…because it was like travelling to an innocent pocket of time. A tune, a lyric, a cringey commercial – you never know what’s going to light up a dusty pathway in your brain and strike a bigger chord than a crumbly chocolate ad from the 80s ever will.
But that’s just a philosophy, my Phylosophy.
© Phyllis Foundis 2025