KitKat: From Elite Club to Global Candy Phenomenon | September 17 2024, 23:04

I’m reading At Home. There, Bryson talks about Kit-Cat, an elite political-literary club of 18th century London (c.1690s-c.1720). It turns out that the KitKat bar was indeed named after this club, although the spelling is slightly different.

Moreover, the olds should remember the TV commercial “Take a break – have a TWIX!”. Interestingly, Mars co-opted the competitor’s slogan :- ) Around the world, this slogan is used by Nestle for Kit-Kat: “Have a break. Have a Kit-Kat” (Take a break. Eat a Kit-Kat). When Kit-Kat was introduced in Russia, the slogan had to be changed to “Есть перерыв. Есть Kit-Kat”. By the way, Mars and Nestlé even sued over this matter.

And what does this elite club have to do with it all, and what is this club anyways? The club’s name originates from the tavern owner where its members initially gathered — Chris Katling, known among friends as Kit Cat.

It’s also interesting that KitKat in the USA is produced by Hershey’s, essentially a competitor of Nestlé.