Kinder Surprise - an egg-shaped chocolate with a toy hidden inside. It is a symbol of the childhood of many adults, still adored by representatives of younger generations.
Today we will briefly tell you the history of the legendary Kinder egg and tell you about a few interesting facts related to it.
How it all started
Although the name of the product refers to the German language (kinder - children), it was created in Italy. It was created in 1972 in the Italian city of Pavia by William Salice, who was a long-time collaborator of Michel Ferrero. It is true that Salice did not come up with the concept of a chocolate egg with a toy hidden inside. In Italy, there was a long tradition of hiding a gift in a chocolate egg donated to children for Easter.
What's more, sweets with a similar concept appeared in the 1960s in Argentina, but they did not gain much popularity then. Inspired by the idea, Salice refined the concept and recipe, and Ferrero made efforts to possibly promote a new product dedicated to the youngest. As you can see, they performed this task with a medal. Since the release of Kinder Surprise in 1974, Ferrero has sold approximately 30 billion units!
Toys for Kinder Surprises
The construction of the Kinder Surprise egg is fixed: a smaller, plastic egg is placed in a large chocolate egg. This plastic one can be opened and a small toy can be taken out. The toys are different, some are made in one piece, others have to be assembled additionally. The ideas for Kinder - toys come from both internal and external designers (one of them is eg the French artist Andre Roche) and produced by various contractors. About 100 new toys are invented each year. From 1974 to 2016, more than 12,000 kinds of toys were added to the Kinder Surprise.
Rapidly growing popularity
Kinder Surprises quickly spread over the whole world, gaining extraordinary popularity. Interestingly, although children easily fall in love with them at first sight, the craze for Kinder Surprises has also taken over adults. It happened thanks to specially broadcasted collections of toys and figurines placed inside the product. They have become a treat for collectors. Many of them showed a lot of desperation to get the perfect missing copies.
Evolution of Kinder Surprise
Although both the appearance and the concept of the product were the same from the beginning, the plastic container for the toy underwent slight modifications. Product promotion was also subject to evolution. For the advertising purposes of Kinder Surprise, Ferrero cooperated with many campaigns (including Walt Disney, Universal, Smart). As a result, among the toys there were often figures of characters adored by children - for example Asterix, Smurfs or Minions.
Can we buy Kinder Surprise everywhere?
Kinder Surprise is known virtually all over the world, and it breaks the greatest popularity records on the European market - precisely in Russia, Germany and Great Britain.
Interestingly, despite the enormous recognition around the world, Kinder Surprise never managed to appear on one huge market - the United States. This is due to the US regulations of 1938, which prohibit the sale of sweets with a toy or a small object inside. This is to ensure the safety of children who could swallow small toys. The ban on bringing Kinder Surprise to the US is so restrictive that even individual passengers, carrying even one item in their luggage, can be fined! The USA is not the only country in the world where we will not buy Kinder Surprise - in 2016 it was also banned in Chile.
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