While scouring the internet for vintage confectionery tins and ephemera, I came across (and purchased) a small tin badge not really knowing what it was for…until now!
This small, safety pin clasped badge is adorned with a miniature bar of Cadbury’s famous Dairy Milk Chocolate (created in 1905) and features the ‘glass and a half‘ logo of flowing milk (first marketed in 1928). The iconic Cadbury purple, now known as Pantone 2865c, is also pictured.
But what does it all mean?
In 1965 Cadbury ran a campaign called the ‘Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Award’, or C.D.M Award for short. It encouraged the British public to nominate a friend, a family member, a local hero (or themselves) for ‘a simple everyday act of kindness, cheerfulness or courtesy’.
Winners of the C.D.M Award were gifted one of these tin badges, along with a presentation letter and a half pound bar of Dairy Milk chocolate.
The promotion ran for several years and helped to temporarily boost sales while the company operated through a difficult period, instigated by a series of miss-matched marketing decisions and fluctuating costs of raw ingredients.
Cadbury in recent years have adopted the themes of kindness and thoughtfulness, as promoted in the C.D.M Awards, in a series of TV adverts. These adverts often feature children offering their bars of Dairy Milk to those they see as deserving or in need of a pick-me-up; a crying teenager, a tolerant neighbour and a hard-working mother.
I personally will be wearing my claimed C.D.M Award on the lapel of my jacket whenever I introduce myself as the ‘British Candy Connoisseur‘!
Who would you nominate to win one?
You can see a 1960’s C.D.M Award television advert here: https://www.hatads.org.uk/catalogue/record/20ed40eb-4566-4fbb-bf1d-e580de0e783e