Cadbury Dairy Milk Ice Cream revive the lolly stick joke via Twitter.

LONDON, Friday 25th May 2012: Cadbury Dairy Milk Ice Cream heralds the start of a Great British summer by unveiling the first in a new generation of lolly stick ticklers following the nation’s biggest ever gag competition, @goldenlollyjoke on Twitter.

Frederick’s Dairies, who make and sell the ice cream lollies under licence for Cadbury, turned to the social media website for inspiration ahead of producing a new range of lolly stick jokes in 2013.

The initiative was launched following customer research which found that 66% of British ice cream fanatics would love to see the return of the lolly stick joke. More than 2,000 entries came via Twitter as micro bloggers flexed their humour muscles in search of a £5,000 prize.

Comedy critic and author Bruce Dessau, who has been researching comedy trends in social media, said: “There has never been a better time to revive the tradition of the lolly stick joke. Short form text mediums like Twitter have focused people on delivering bite-sized wit and shown us that a joke doesn’t have to be long to be good.”

All entries were judged by a panel of experts which included Dessau. The top gags were then put to public vote.

The winning joke has been penned by Charlie Thomas (@swingitcharlie), a Newcastle scaffolder by day and part of a Rat Pack tribute act by night.

His winning joke is ‘Who is in charge of the hankies? The hankie-chief’.

It has been engraved onto the world’s first ever 18 carat gold lolly stick which the British public will have the chance to win this weekend. The stick, worth £10,000, has been put into a random Cadbury Dairy Milk Ice Cream Lolly for a member of the public to find. The lollies will be given out in London’s Covent Garden Piazza from Friday 25th May until Sunday 27th May.

Jenny Bostock, Consumer Marketing Manager, says: “We are proud to be reviving a great summer time tradition and what better way to do it than with the help of the nation. Twitter has re-energised our passion for joke telling and sharing. We want to bring back the fun to ice cream and put a smile on our customer faces.”

Top 10 Joke Entries @goldenlollyjoke
1. Who is in charge of the hankies? The hankie-chief! @swingitcharlie
2. Why are crabs trying to take over the sea? Because they’re shellfish – @dave_giz
3. What did the buffalo say to his child when he was leaving for uni? Bison – @MartinDarko
4. Where did Noah keep all of the freshwater fish? In his multi-storey Carp Ark – @TonyCowards
5. Why did the cow get thrown out of the darts competition? Because she hit a bulls eye – @bellmusic
6. I’ve got a joke about Elton John. It’s a little bit funny – @jcodfishpie
7. Why did the cheese maker walk with a limp? Because he only had one stilton @QuintinForbes
8. Who is president of the Zoo animals? Barack O’Llama – @zoolander1978
9. What is Bilbo Baggins’ favourite part of a cooker? The hob bit – @Alan_Machnik
10. Who did King Arthur get to look after his napkins? Sir Viette – @hilaryoscorne

For children of the 60s ,70s and 1980s the joke was an essential part of the lolly experience. Stick jokes were phased out from 1988 but will be brought back next year by Cadbury Dairy Milk Ice Cream due to a surge in demand.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Ice Cream is made under licence by Fredericks Dairies

Press Contact: Taylor Herring PR – 0208 206 5151