Hop into the Sweet History of Freddo Frog!🍫🐸
Chapter Extracts, pages 80 to 84, 1930 — 1939:
The Birth of “Freddo”:
"The famed frog is spawned around 1930, when Macpherson Robertson is toying with a new 1-penny line for confectionery shopkeepers. A line of penny “mice” is a fresh idea [Mickey Mouse debuted in 1928]; however, an employee named Harry Melbourne suggests an alternative: “Women and girls are afraid of mice. What about a frog?” Chocolate frogs begin production in the 1930s and prove hugely successful with the kiddies. K. G. Luke Ltd., a Melbourne silverware and metal spinning business, is responsible for casting the frog moulds in German silver. The company also moulds the Brownlow medal.
The popularity of the chocolate frogs results in production figures “literally running into the millions.” By 1939, the popular frog is slated to become Australia’s first confectionery character. Harry Melbourne graciously suggests naming it after Fred McLean, the foreman in charge of the frogs. The “Freddo” trademark application is filed with the Commonwealth Registrar on the 2nd of May 1939, and “Freddo” is born, hopping out of lolly jars and into the hands of eager kids all over Australia."
“Freddo”: A New Trade Character:
“Created to lead a general publicity campaign [for] the coming season, [is the new trade character] ‘Freddo’ Frog, [a] cheerful-looking little fellow . . . It is now some years ago since [MacRobertson’s] first introduced chocolate frogs to the public, when their immediate popularity resulted in production figures literally running into millions. . . . Now further impetus is being given [to the frogs] by the inauguration of a comprehensive campaign featuring the registered name of ‘Freddo’ . . . [with] radio programmes, outdoor posters, newspaper announcements, and new shop display material.”
— The Australasian Confectioner and Soda Fountain Journal, February 1939.
Friday Night is “Freddo” Night!
"Friday night is the big night for spending. It's pay-day night, the night when people feel generous, feel like splashing a bit of money about for the children and the home. It's the night when big purchases of sweets for the week-end, and good things for the week-end cooking are made. That won't mean that people will buy 'Freddos' on Fridays only. It will make them want more Mac Robertson's 'Freddos' every other day of the week.'Freddo' sales will be up every day with an extra leap every Friday Night!"
— The Australasian Confectioner and Soda Fountain Journal, March 1939.
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