{"id":16536,"date":"2015-02-06T14:34:57","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T19:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/?p=16536"},"modified":"2015-02-08T02:24:50","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T07:24:50","slug":"the-nearly-definitive-history-of-nestles-chocolite-plus-collectingcandy-coms-3rd-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/?p=16536","title":{"rendered":"The (Nearly) Definitive History of Nestle’s Choco’Lite! — Plus: CollectingCandy.com’s Third Anniversary!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CC_Choco'Lite<\/p>\n

Today is special to me as it marks the Third Anniversary of CollectingCandy.com – first launched on February 6th, 2012<\/a>.\u00a0 And while I wasn’t able to program a week-long anniversary celebration as I did last year<\/a>, I have endeavored to bring a few especially fun pieces together this week, concluding with today’s post on the history of Nestle’s Choco’Lite bar.<\/p>\n

This is one I’m especially excited to share as it represents the culmination of years of hunting for (and finding) little grains of historical information along the way.\u00a0 There are still Choco’Lite promotions and pieces I haven’t turned up material for, so this isn’t as complete as I’d like, but it’s awfully close.\u00a0 So make the jump to check out the (nearly) definitive history of Nestle’s Choco’Lite!<\/p>\n

Choco’Lite was an aerated chocolate bar sold in the United States from 1972 until around 1982, but it shouldn’t be confused with just another Aero bar knockoff which some internet commenters occasionally compare it to.\u00a0 I’ve long held that the Choco’Lite bar represented a significantly different textural experience than what one gets from an Aero.<\/p>\n

Not long after I launched this site back in 2012, I published a short write-up on the Choco’Lite<\/a> and within that post I conveyed the importance of the packaging’s description of “crispy chips”.\u00a0 I think those crispy chips are an important distinction and that leads to an important discovery I made on the ancestry of the Choco’Lite bar.<\/p>\n

The ingredients list of Choco’Lite has always included honey, which is likely what provided it with the crispy chips element.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Recalling this, last year I discovered that Nestle UK had produced an aerated bar with honey all the way back in the 1930’s.\u00a0 That bar was called the Bubblo and I have an image of an early wrapper here:<\/p>\n

\"UK

UK – Nestle’s Bubblo – aerated chocolate with honey – wrapper image – 1930’s – Source unknown.<\/p><\/div>\n

So, Nestle’s Bubblo may well be the earliest and clearest ancestor to the Choco’Lite bar, which would follow four decades later.<\/p>\n

Though Nestle would go on to purchase the Rowntree company in the late 1980’s and come to own the Aero aerated chocolate bar, it wasn’t always so.\u00a0 I believe that Nestle’s efforts to create their own version of an aerated bar were long motivated to compete with Rowntree’s successful Aero.\u00a0 Which leads me to my next discovery.<\/p>\n

Years after the Bubblo had disappeared, Nestle took another crack at an aerated chocolate bar, this time for distribution in the United States.\u00a0 This bar was called Nestle’s Puffed.<\/p>\n

Unlike the Bubblo, this bar contained no honey and so was a straight-up aerated chocolate bar more similar to Rowntree’s Aero bar at the time.\u00a0 I’m happy to have picked up a pair of Nestle’s Puffed pieces in recent years; a wrapper and a display box.\u00a0 [Note:\u00a0 These pieces are both for Nestle’s Puffed Milk Chocolate, but Nestle’s also produced a dark chocolate version of the Puffed bar at the time.]<\/p>\n

\"Nestle's

Nestle’s Puffed – Milk Chocolate – display shelf counter box – 1950’s<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Nestle's

Nestle’s – Puffed – Milk Chocolate – 1 1\/2 oz chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1950’s<\/p><\/div>\n

After Nestle’s Puffed, we jump ahead to December of 1971 and the candy trade announcement of the launch of Nestle’s new Choco’Lite bar:<\/p>\n

\"Nestle's

Nestle’s Choco’Lite – canday trade magazine clipping – December 1971<\/p><\/div>\n

Interestingly, that Choco’Lite trade clipping includes mention of another Nestle aerated chocolate bar, the Choco’Puff.\u00a0 I’ve never found images of the aforementioned Choco’Puff bar, so that’s one I’m still on the hunt for.<\/p>\n

So by late 1971, the Choco’Lite had begun its roll out to the United States.\u00a0 Last year I unearthed a film reel for what was likely the very first Choco’Lite television commercial spot and had it digitally transferred:<\/p>\n