Remember these Erotic Cadbury's Flake Adverts from the 80s?

By Mark Nobes

Many of you will remember the suggestive and erotic nature of some of the Cadbury's Flake adverts back in the 1980s. I certainly remember those ads, but there is an even more provocative advert from the 1960s, which was quite possibly banned. Having just seen it for the first time on Youtube, the sexual nature of it makes it easy to understand why it would have been banned. You can watch it at the end of this post, along with an advert from 1983 and 1985, so you can compare them all.

The uploader of the 60s advert is actually the son of the lady in the advert Dona Evans (nee McDonough), and he must surely have felt rather uncomfortable watching it. Indeed, he mentions that is "slightly provocative but hey it paid for my education!". He also states that is was "possibly banned", so whether it actually was or not is up for debate.

Cadbury's Flake Advert 1985 ft. Janis Levy

Of course, the advert could be viewed as entirely innocent. After all, it's just a lady biting into a Flake and then taking a walk near a river. But the way in which she very slowly and suggestively peels back the wrapper and puts it into her mouth, followed by a cascading waterfall, makes it very difficult for a red blooded male not to view it as being sexually arousing! 

Certainly, if that was my Mum, daughter or sister, then I would definitely feel very uncomfortable watching it. However, at the same time, I would also not be ashamed of it, as she hasn't actually taken off her clothes or performed a sexual act.

So how does it compare to the advert from 1983? Well, it's still pretty suggestive, and there is yet another waterfall, although this features throughout the ad, rather than showing the gushing water after the lady bites into the Flake. It's definitely more crumbly this time around, and this goes hand in hand with the slogan of the time "the crumbliest, flakiest milk chocolate", which we all remember, I'm sure.

Actually, Flake's do make a bit of a mess don't they? I actually prefer a Twirl myself, which doesn't leave me with half the chocolate bar in my lap! 

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This iconic Flake advert from 1985 also features a beautiful young lady (the model Janis Levy) seductively unwrapping and biting into a Flake while walking through a field of golden sunflowers - she was just 17 at the time. Afterwards, she takes a ride on the back of an old fashioned gypsy caravan.
Janis now runs her own hair extension company, but appeared in numerous adverts during her modelling career.
So the big question is, can a beautiful woman actually bite into a Flake without it being viewed as erotic? Well, Cadbury know the answer, and those ads have sold a great many chocolate bars for them. I'll leave it there!