Ferrero Rocher

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Ferrero Rocher is a spherical chocolate sweet made by Italian chocolatier Ferrero SpA, the producer of Tic Tac and Nutella. The sweets consist of a whole roasted hazelnut encased in a thin wafer shell filled with hazelnut cream and covered in milk chocolate and chopped hazelnuts and walnuts. The sweets contain 72 Calories (304 kJ), and are individually packaged inside a gold-coloured wrapper.

In Australia, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Egypt, and Malaysia^{[citation needed]}, Ferrero Rocher is a popular gift during the holidays, especially during Chinese New Year. Chinese culture associates the gold of the packaging with good fortune and wealth.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Varieties 2 Advertising 3 References to the television advertisement 4 World Record 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Varieties

Apart from the traditional hazelnut flavor, Ferrero Rocher comes in other flavors. There are several other flavors: Including coconut & dark chocolate also Pistaccio, Strawberry, Coconut and Lemon are the Ferrero Garden Varietys. The original Ferrero Rocher is in a gold wrapper whereas coconut is in a silver wrapper and dark chocolate a brown log. The coconut flavor is called Ferrero Rafaello. It has an hoop center rather than hazelnut and with shredded coconut on the outside. The dark chocolate is simply called the Ferrero Rondnoir, but rather than the original chocolate that is used, dark chocolate is used instead.

Another variety, Fernando Ronche, is mostly like Ferrero Rocher except the individual candies are packaged in rolls. Fernando Ronche is produced in Germany and sold only in Europe. Each individual candy is shaped like a sphere with nuts and the inside has a chocolate filling. The wrapper is gold wrapping and plain brown lettering. The chocolate has 135 calories per pack of five candies, 27 calories each.^[1]

[edit] Advertising

In the UK, the product is perhaps more famous for its original TV advertisements than for its taste. It was promoted to a down-market audience as an aspirational brand by means of an Italian advertisement dubbed in English showing an ambassador's butler offering a huge piled plate of the sweets to the guests at an embassy party. Presented conventionally, this advertisement might have had no extraordinary impact - but the English-language soundtrack of the British version had a kitsch style which made the product an icon of "false aspirational" products almost immediately. The opening voice-over, "The Ambassador's receptions are noted in society for their host's exquisite taste that captivates his guests", together with the comments of "Eccellente" and "Monsieur, with these Rocher, you're really spoiling us" from guests at the reception, remain widely recognised in the UK. Further signs of the impact of this advert are that it has been parodied by a number of comedians, and that the concept of a butler wandering around holding a silver tray with a mountain of Ferrero Rocher has become a trope, and a popular stereotype of diplomacy in general.

Outside the UK the product has achieved considerable popularity without the same cultural references and associations. It is widely distributed in North American supermarkets based rather more on its merits as a pleasurable candy and less on any influences attributable to advertising.

The product has been the sponsor for Desperate Housewives in the UK, since October 2008.

[edit] References to the television advertisement

• "The ambassador is really spoiling us with this one!"^[2]
• "The assembled press could only have thought: 'Ambassador, with these cack-handed spy antics, you are really spoiling us'."^[3]
• "Like the fabled Ferrero Rocher ambassador, Nintendo is really spoiling us this year."^[4]
• In Channel 4 comedy Father Ted, when a group of three bishops visited, Mrs. Doyle stacked the Ferrero Rocher in a cone shape and the bishops proclaimed, "Father Ted, with these Rocher you are really spoiling us."
• In Goodnight Sweetheart Series 4, Episode 4, Gary (played by Nicholas Lyndhurst) hands a vicar a box of Ferrero Rocher as the vicar asks "are these from your embassy contacts?". Gary responds by saying "Absolutely, yes. The Ambassador has them at all his receptions".
• In the 2009 film [{In The Loop}] the character Malcolm Tucker says "Ambassador, with your baldy head you are spoiling us."

In some branding studies in Italy it was remarked upon that the golden packaging was chosen in order to give an "elite" status to this kind of chocolate. In one spot in the late 1990s, Richard Gere was a testimonial for the brand.^{[citation needed]}

In an episode of Little Britain Abroad, Bubbles DeVere is seen eating a Ferrero Rocher in Ronnie Corbett's mansion.

In a parody of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in their show, French and Saunders, a secondary character took out a tray of Ferrero Rocher when the word "Ambassador" was said by either Dawn French or Jennifer Saunders.

In the released DVD of his stand up show 'Sonic Waffle', comedian Ross Noble remarks "Oh Ambassador, with these Rochelles you are spoiling us," when talking to a heckler.

[edit] World Record

On October 10, 2008 Jim Lyngvild set the Guinness World Record for eating a grand total of seven Ferrero Rocher chocolates in one minute live on TV2 Denmark's Go' aften Danmark.^[5]

On April 11, 2009 James Boyd tried to beat the Guinness World Record on "Britain's Got Talent" for the most Ferrero Rocher chocolates eaten in one minute, but failed, reaching only four in sixty seconds. He had previously admitted to only ever have managed six and gave the excuse that he was feeling sick because Stephen Mulhern, presenter of Britain's Got More Talent had challenged Boyd eating as many different kinds of chocolate in a minute. For the semi-finals, James Boyd is invited back onto the show in another attempt to break the Guinness World Record ^[6].

Also, during James Boyd's audition, Anthony McPartlin, a presenter on the main show, attempted to eat as many Ferrero Rochers in one minute, and he was able to beat Boyd with a total of five Ferrero Rocher, and so did Piers Morgan, managing a total of seven chocolates on Britain's Got More Talent; however, Morgan failed to swallow, and thus, was disqualified as shown on Britain's Got More Talent's Ferrero Rocher Eating Contest. ^[7][8]. At a later date, the two presenters of Britain's Got Talent, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly attempted to beat the record on their website. The video can be seen here: http://www.officialantanddec.com/blog/2009/05/21/ant-and-decs-chocolate-challenge-part-1/

[edit] References

Notes

[edit] External links

• Ferrero Rocher website