Aero (chocolate bar)

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For other uses, see Aero (chocolate bar) (disambiguation).

Aero is a milk chocolate bar filled with bubbles of air, made by Nestlé and primarily sold in Ireland, the UK, Canada and Australia.

UK origins

It was originally introduced in the North of England in 1935 by the Rowntree Mackintosh chocolate company in York, one of the first products in a new marketing-led sales initiative introduced by the company during the 1930s. Distribution was increased to the rest of the UK during the following months. Rowntree Mackintosh was acquired by Nestlé in 1988, who continued the production of the Aero brand.

File:AeroMint.jpg
Mint Aero bar, as sold in the UK (September 2006)

There are several flavours of Aero. These include the Original Aero (which consists of milk chocolate throughout), Mint Aero (with a green bubbly mint-flavoured layer on top of a chocolate layer), Caramel Aero (with a caramel layer on top of the chocolate layer), Dark Chocolate Aero, White Aero (made of white chocolate), Latte-flavoured Aero, and Crispy Aeros (similar to Nestlé Crunch bar). Orange Aeros (orange/chocolate layered) were sold for a while, as well. Back in the 1970s there were also Strawberry flavoured bars. In 2006 a special vanilla milkshake flavoured version was released only in Japan. It consisted of a vanilla flavoured white chocolate centre and outer dark chocolate layer. Another new version released in 2006 is the Aero Vanilla Yoghurt flavour, available only in Canada. As with all other Aero bars manufactured by Nestle in Canada, it is manufactured in a peanut-free facility. In Australia there is also an Aero Temptations bar, which has the bubbly chocolate, but with a caramel topping.

When Aero changed its logo in 2005 it also released Irish Cream and Sticky Toffee flavours in the UK. Sticky Toffee Aeros were also sold in Australia for a brief time. Not long after this a new product was added to the brand called Aero Bubbles, balls of chocolate with half milk chocolate and half mint shells with bubbled chocolate inside. The slogan of Aero Bubbles is "Have you felt the bubbles melt?". There are according to a pack of Aero Bubbles 193 calories per packet with 10.7g of fat.

In 2006, Nestle released a hot chocolate drink powder branded "Aero".[1]

File:AERO Caramel-Canada.jpg
Canadian caramel version of Aero

Countries where Aero is sold

In addition to the United Kingdom, the bar is also sold in Canada, Australia, The Republic of Ireland, Germany, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Japan, United Arab Emirates,Kuwait, New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia, Bulgaria and Estonia under the Aero name, and in the Netherlands by Nestlé as Bros (meaning: 'brittle') as well as Hungary by Nestle as Boci Aero. The Aero bar was made available for a short time in the United States by Nestle during the 1980s, though it seems not to have been a commercial success. However, they are still available at certain specialty vendors or supermarkets that import the bars. Previously the Hershey Company sold Aero bars in the United States under license from Rowntree Chocolate Company from 1937 until 1939. The British version is available in some parts of the U.S. as an import. Aero enjoys a large market following in South Africa with Aero, Aero Mint and, recently, White Aero and Capuccino Aero. In Brazil the bar is known as Suflair.

There are 220 calories in a normally sized Aero Bar according to the package.

Manufacture

According to the entry in the patent database, Aero bars are formed by a method involving chocolate in a liquid state on the verge of solidifying. Air is run through the chocolate with a vacuum as it cools (in the form of many very small bubbles), resulting in evenly distributed bubbles throughout the bar and a honeycomb-like texture.

The exact procedure for making the bubbles is a closely guarded secret. The question of how the bubbles are so evenly distributed throughout the chocolate was the subject of a question in one issue of New Scientist, which made it into the compendium of readers' questions Does Anything Eat Wasps?.[citation needed]

Slogans

From the 1999 redesign & "singers" advertising campaign Aero's tagline was "Have you ever felt the bubbles melt?". The ad copy for the subsequent "mouse" adverts was amended to "All Bubble. No Squeak", a play on the name of a British dish known as Bubble and Squeak, though the tagline was only amended to "Have you felt the bubbles melt?".

Advertisements

One advert involves two women buying the bar from a vending machine, and one of the women instructing the other to wait for the bubbles to melt. They both try it, and remark to one another (their mouths still full of the chocolate), "You feel the bubbles?" "I love the bubbles".

More recently an advert featured American actor Jason Lewis in just a towel explaining how chocolate melts at 37 degrees Celsius (body temperature) and that as the bubbles melt it "increases the pleasure...".

References

  1. ^ http://www.nestle.co.uk/PressOffice/MediaKit/PressReleases/FoodandBeverageNews/AeroHotChoc.htm
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