Chocolate sparklers...........if they will burn! (Mikado Chocolate Biscuit)

Member Name: powerball

Product:	Mikado Chocolate Biscuit
Date:	25/09/09 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Apparently the TV ad was good!

Disadvantages: Expensive, cheap looking and tasting

It would seem that I am one of the few people in the country not to have seen the advert for Mikado chocolate sticks. I gather that it has been quite a successful advertising campaign and people have been greatly influenced by it.

My reason for buying these, (and my reason for trying anything new these days) was to try and tempt my fussy eating toddler and these looked ideal for sticking into the suitcase for our recent holiday to the States.


~~~So, what are Mikado?~~~


Mikado are thin biscuit sticks coated in milk chocolate. One end of the stick is left bare so that your fingers don't get sticky when eating them. Apparently these sticks were inspired by the game of Mikado, also known as "pick up sticks".


~~~Packaging~~~


Mikado come in a slim box, similar to that of a packet of cigarettes but probably twice as long. The box actually is a little cheap looking. It is mainly white with a picture of 3 of the sticks and square of melting yet plastic looking chocolate. In small writing, above the name MIKADO, is the word Glico and on the side of the box, underneath the ingredient list, it states that Mikado is manufactured under licence from Ezaki Glico Co Ltd. Japan. On the back of the packet, underneath the nutritional information, we are told that they are made in the EU for Kraft Foods, UK.

Inside the cardboard packet, the sticks are packaged in a silver foil pouch which tears open fairly easily.


~~~And what about the biscuits then?~~~


My initial thoughts were that these biscuits were rather nice. The inch or so of biscuit that is not covered in chocolate is certainly very useful for holding the biscuit whilst eating it.................a little bit like a lolly stick............but come on guys!! These things are so small there won't be time for the chocolate to melt!
In comparison to the diameter of the sticks (think matchstick), the chocolate coating is indeed quite thick and seemed to be quite a nice tasting milk chocolate. The biscuit inside is kind of a cross between a plain biscuit and a breadstick. In fact, it tastes slightly salty, which seems to enhance the flavour of the chocolate.
As already mentioned, these things are not exactly sizeable, so before you've really noticed, you've eaten 6! At 11 calories this is hardly a sin. Well, not a big one!
But I noticed an unpleasant after taste at this stage. The chocolate tasted a little bit like it had come from a chocolate fountain. And the saltyness started to annoy me. If I'd have wanted a breadstick I would have opened a packet of breadsticks, not a packet of biscuits.


~~~So, how much do they cost?~~~


I bought a packet with 3x 39g boxes.

First of all, I will suggest a price that I think is appropriate, bearing in mind the small size of the boxes and the fact after the first couple, they do taste pretty revolting. I would take a guess that these would be sold in a cut price "Basics" supermarket for 25p a box. Therefore 3x39g boxes for 75p.

Now, I will tell you what they really are being sold for.

Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury are charging £1.98 for the 3 pack.


~~~Some additional thoughts~~~


I mentioned I bought these biscuits to slip into our suitcase for my fussy toddler.
I must confess, just for one occasion, these were an absolute godsend. We had been in the USA for 5 days and had not really managed to persuade our son to eat anything in the 5 days. We were sailing home and had to wait in a queue for well over an hour with hundreds of fellow cruise passengers in order to check in and board the ship. Obviously, since we were to be at sea with these people for the next 6 days, we were keen not to fall out with or upset said passengers before even casting off. To say the very least, the hungry, hot and bored 2 year old was not far from complete meltdown in this queue when I remembered I had these things in the hand luggage. I felt that the hyperactivity that was probably to come as a result of eating these things but once safely locked away in our cabin, was a small price to pay for placating our fellow passengers in the queue.

Not only did it work, the by this stage, cute 2 year old, actually managed to charm quite a few people and win many friends for the next 6 days.

However, last night, I came across the last of the 3 packets, and started to nibble away. After about 6, I suddenly had to stop. I couldn't possibly eat another one. The thought of the chocolate almost made me sick. And funnily enough, I offered them to my son this morning. He carried 2 of them around the house with him, like un-lit sparklers on bonfire night, but even the smell put him off and he eventually abandoned them in his toy garage.

I think that proves that a) these are poor, cheap quality, gimmicks and b) he must have been absolutely starving that day in the queue!


~~~Conclusion~~~


It will be interesting to see if all the people who rushed out to by these biscuits having seen the TV advert, actually buy them again.

The packaging looks cheap. The chocolate tastes cheap. The ingredients for the biscuits are cheap. The idea is cheap. Yet Mikado are........................well.............quite frankly, extremely expensive.

One final thought - on the back of the box it says, "For further information on this product and how it can fit into a healthy lifestyle visit www.krafthealthyliving.co.uk"
I would suggest the best way the product can fit into a healthy lifestyle is to avoid it at all costs and maybe do a few laps around the supermarket instead.

The one star is for the embarrassment it saved me on holiday.

Summary: A good advertising campaign for a poor product