Cadbury’s latest marketing stunt has seen some residents of Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Newcastle awaken to purple balloons tied to their mailboxes.
While the scene may be reminiscent of Stephen King’s It – where a freaky clown lures small children into drains with a red balloon – residents who had been balloon-ed actually awoke to free chocolate.
In a toss-up of balloon-based luring, chocolate is definitely the preferable outcome. Plus, these balloons are biodegradable!
The stunt’s aim was promoting Cadbury’s new breakaway chocolate for World Chocolate Day. In the residents’ mailboxes was also a note reading “we know it has been a challenging time for many, but we want to continue to celebrate the small things in life,” according to 7News.
Paul Chatfield, the brands senior marketing director, said in a statement that: “It’s been a difficult time for many Australians, so we wanted to use World Chocolate Day as an opportunity to surprise and delight everyday Aussies across the county to make their morning a little more interesting with Cadbury Breakaway.”
NSW MP Sonia Hornery shared pictures of the balloons on Facebook.
According to Facebook, many people were chuffed with their free chocolate.
One user wrote, “It was a lovely surprise. Many thanks to the delivery people for getting out on such a cold morning.”
Those who missed out made sure to express their suburb’s interest, should Cadbury unveil any future free-chocolate-based marketing stunts.
One commenter wrote: “Why only Lambton! People in Waratah West love chocolate too. What a great thing to do though, thanks Cadbury.” Her message included a winky face emoji, as a hint.
Cadbury collabed with food insecurity organisation OzHarvest for the promo, offering a free block of the choc to anyone who donated $5 or more to the organisation.
According to the OzHarvest, they have now run out of free chocolate (though donations are still welcome!).
An honorable intention indeed, but maybe next time steer clear of the creepy balloons.
Featured Image: Facebook/Sonia Hornery MP
