Less-sugar MILO (left) and No sugar-added MILO (right) (Source: Taking Up the Challenge blog)Įspousing the nutritional and energy-giving properties of MILO, the messages in these ads echo those of chocolate as a health food in Europe in the 19 th century, when it was first introduced as a mass commodity and marketed to the working and middle-classes as affordable luxuries by chocolate manufacturers: Undated Singapore print advertisement of MILO in Chinese. Interestingly, several of the print ads I’ve found of MILO in Singapore at that time depict the chocolate malt drink as an energy-giving sports beverage:Ī MILO ad in Singapore from 1966 advertising it as an energy beverage for sportsmen and sportswomen. The park was considered a trendy entertainment spot for young Singaporeans at that time. (Source: The Long and Winding Road )Ī Nestle stall selling MILO drinks at the Great World Amusement Park, 1951. Print advertisements throughout the years have attested to the staying power of MILO in the Singaporean market:Ī MILO advertisement painted on the side of a building in Singapore, 1949, above a similar advertisement for Milkmaid Milk. MILO was apparently introduced to Singapore in 1936 and has had a production facility on the small island nation since 1984. Indeed, advertisements from that time show MILO marketed as a “fortified” health drink, with an obvious ‘chocolate-y’ brown appearance: Nestle claims that Mayne had “developed a powdered chocolate malt drink that people could mix with water or milk, and drink hot or cold”. Mayne had apparently concocted the drink to feed the malnourished children of Depression-era Australia, where the economic crisis had undoubtedly spread. Claiming its namesake after the great Greek athlete Milo of Croton, who won 6 Olympic events in the 6 th century BC, Nestle’s MILO is marketed as a health-sustaining “Tonic Food Drink” since its creation in 1934, which has been attributed to Australian food scientist, Thomas Mayne. Chocolate became a popular ingredient in Singapore (and neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia) by way of Nestle’s MILO drink. However, chocolate did eventually make its way into Southeast Asian cuisine, albeit through a very different product and under tremendously different circumstances at a much later time. Except for Philippines, a former Spanish colony, where a drink of hot, dark chocolate is still consumed as part of breakfast on Christmas morning, chocolate never ‘took off’ in India, Southeast Asia, or the Far East (Coe & Coe, 1996: 173-174), the same way it did across Europe in the 17 th to 19 th centuries. 16, Nestle Japan continued to see demand far exceed its supply capacity and decided on the full sales suspension as a result.Comparatively little has been written about the role of chocolate in foodways throughout Asia, much less within the region of Southeast Asia. Although its shipments were resumed on Nov. The company halted sales of the mainstay 240-gram product in September. Milo started attracting strong demand in Japan around July on the back of the social media posts. Nestle Japan said Tuesday that it will halt sales of 240- and 700-gram packages of "Nestle Milo Original" and a boxed Milo product with each containing five sticks, planning to resume sales in March next year or later after preparing supply. The unit of Swiss food giant Nestle SA saw Milo demand grow seven-fold year on year following Twitter or other social media posts, including one saying that "it helps you wake up better" and another saying "It's good for anemia." The products also attracted attention from people staying home due to the coronavirus crisis. has announced a decision to suspend sales of all of its Milo chocolate malt beverage powder products due to difficulties meeting a surge in demand partly caused by social media posts.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |