Tony’s Chocolonely has unveiled Adebayo ‘The Beast’ Akinfenwa as its first official Bar Breaker, as he joins the brand to help a struggling nation break into more of the brand’s chunky and unequally divided bars.
The appointment follows new research that found one in four (26%) Brits have previously had trouble breaking into a chocolate bar, with more than one in ten (12%) admitting they have not eaten a chocolate bar because they weren’t able to break it – rising to one in five (20%) Gen-Z. ‘The World’s Strongest Footballer’ will be harnessing his power to motivate the nation and flex his thumb muscles to help chocolate lovers master the art of breaking a notoriously thick, chunky but tasty Tony’s Chocolonely bar.
Speaking on his new title, Adebayo ‘The Beast’ Akinfenwa, said:
“I’m proud of my appointment as Tony’s Chocolonely’s first ever Bar Breaker. I love a challenge and I can’t wait to inspire people and help them overcome the might of the Tony’s bars. I’ve been taking the role of Bar Breaker seriously and, as you’ll see, trained hard to ensure my thumbs are at peak performance. I’ll tell you, they’re no match for The Beast! Follow my lead and join our mission to end exploitation in the cocoa industry. You gotta break the bar to raise the bar!“
Chocolate lovers can check out the motivational chocolate breaking content filmed with Adebayo ‘The Beast’ Akinfenwa on Tony’s Chocolonely’s YouTube here.
The new campaign comes as research shows just over a quarter (26%) of Brits believe that a cleanly broken chocolate bar tastes better than a smashed up one, rising to a third (34%) of Gen-Z. However, more than a quarter (28%) of Brits admit they have needed to ask for help to break their chocolate bar, rising to two out of five (42%) Gen-Z, with one in ten (9%) of all respondents asking their children to do it for them.
In true Tony’s style, the brand turned to its community of Serious Friends for help, asking about their unusual break-it-to-eat-it habits and fun anecdotes around how the community breaks into their own favourite Tony’s bars. With over 4,600 respondents, Tony’s Serious Friends confessed to comedy breaking moments and revealed the weird and wonderful tools used to break into the chunky bars… As one Tony’s Chocolonely’s Serious Friend said: “Tony’s bars aren’t a snack. You don’t just eat one; you earn it.“
While hammers, cows, friend’s or partner’s heads and elbows are among the more unusual tools people have used the most to break into a Tony’s chocolate bar, others relied unexpectedly on a samurai sword, a meat tenderiser, a dumbbell and knitting needles to accomplish the mission. Incredibly, one Serious Friend had an out-of-this world solution, with a meteorite they found in their garden: “I hit the bar with the meteorite, and to my pleasure it cracked into small bite-sized chunks“.
Nicola Matthews, Head of Marketing UK&I at Tony’s Chocolonely, said: “Our bars are deliciously chunky, packed with lots of inclusions, but we know they’re not the easiest to break. Over the years, our Serious Friends have shared all kinds of inventive ways they’ve cracked into their favourite Tony’s bars. So now, we’re teaming up with ‘The World’s Strongest Footballer’, aka The Beast, as our first official Bar Breaker. He’s here to help chocolate lovers break into their bars with ease, and join our mission for fairer chocolate, one tasty chunk at a time.“
Tony’s Chocolonely’s vision is to end exploitation in the cocoa industry. Not just their own chocolate, but all chocolate worldwide. Dedicated in its efforts to raising awareness of and eliminating inequality in the chocolate industry, Tony’s Chocolonely leads by example, building direct, long-term relationships with cocoa farmers in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, paying them a higher price and working together to solve the underlying causes of cocoa’s 3 biggest issues – forced labour, child labour and deforestation.
- 26% is the total figure for respondents who selected ‘Strongly agree’ or ‘Somewhat agree’ for either “I have previously found it difficult to cleanly break into a chocolate bar” or “I have previously not eaten a chocolate bar because I wasn’t able to break it”
