Sour aftertaste to Cliffs’ sweet victory

The Cliffs of Moher have just scored another major marketing coup, albeit in less than ideal circumstances.

Images of the iconic landscape will soon feature on supermarket shelves around the country after a graphic designer from Ennis was named the winner of a competition to design a wrapper for the popular Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar.
The wrapper, designed by Kerry-based Paul Ruane, made it into the final five of the competition run by Cadburys, in association with TV3 show The Apprentice, in January and was the subject of a public vote.
According to Mr Ruane, his design is based on “a magical Ireland where everything is made from chocolate. The giant ‘glass and a half of milk’ are pouring milk into the sea where the Cadbury milk chocolate is made. This sea has then created the chocolate Cliffs of Moher.”
After a public vote, a design by a Dublin Leaving Certificate student was deemed to have won, a decision that was subsequently overturned.
Sinéad Costello from Malahide described her idea as “a waterfall of milk turning into monks who turned the milk into chocolate as building blocks for the Giant’s Causeway”.
However, after some complaints, Cadbury posted a statement on their website saying it had investigated the complaints and “in light of these investigations Cadbury has reached the decision that, in its opinion, the entry that received the most public votes was not eligible for the promotion.
“Cadbury has therefore exercised its discretion under the terms and conditions of the promotion to award the winning prize to Paul Ruane, being the next valid entry receiving the most public votes.”
Mr Ruane’s design received in the region of 25,000 votes. His prize includes €10,000 and his wrapper design will feature on Cadbury’s Dairy Milk bars later this year.