The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Polo Mint: Just Enjoy Them
“If I’m in a vicious mood I crunch them . . . if I’m in a good mood I suck them slowly.”
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Overview
The admen must have had a hard time trying to come up with new slogans and angles to sell such a simple product, and in the 1960s and ‘70s this often meant just getting consumers to say a few words on why they liked them. Well, “the mint with the hole” was bound to get a few choice phrases that might be a bit suggestive, and so it proved with six ordinary folk in this 1971 ad.
This is one of a large collection of films made by Rowntree’s of York (now Nestlé), most of which are adverts for their confectionary products. Although Polo mints were developed in 1939, the war prevented them from going into production until 1948. It is claimed that they were inspired by the US confectionery Life Savers, which came out in 1912, which also were shaped with a hole in them from 1925. Perhaps rather surprisingly, Polos didn’t have a hole until 1955. There are several theories around for why the hole is there, from saving money to being able to withstand greater pressure. The slogan that followed later from 1965 was the rather uninspiring, “People like Polo”.
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