Rolo (/ˈroʊloʊ/ROH-loh), referring to the roll-styled chocolates, is a brand of truncated cone-shaped or conical frustum-shaped chocolates with a caramel inside. First manufactured in Norwich, Norfolk in the United Kingdom by Mackintosh's in 1937 (followed by Rowntree's after the takeover in 1969), they are made by Nestlé (except in the United States, where production has been licensed to The Hershey Company).
A long-running British advertising slogan for the brand was "Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?"[1] A YouGov poll saw Rolo ranked the eleventh most popular and seventeenth most famous confectionery in the UK.[2]
History
Mackintosh's 1949 Rolo advertisement in the UK
The Rolo product was developed in England by Mackintosh's,[3] (later Rowntree-Mackintosh), simply a combination of caramel and a chocolate coating. Rolo was launched in the United Kingdom in 1937.[4]
In 1988, the Nestlé company acquired Rowntree and its brands, including Rolo.[7] There have now been Rolo biscuits, ice-cream, muffins, birthday cake, desserts, cake bars, doughnuts, mini Rolos, big Rolos (all of which use the same type of caramel), yoghurts, and Easter eggs made. In May 2011, McDonald's combined chocolate pieces and caramel sauce with their soft-serve McFlurry product to simulate the Rolo flavour profile in a cross-branded product. In December 2018, Walmart began selling Rolo ice cream cones and ice cream sandwiches in their stores.[8]
In 1996, the Rolo advertisement "Elephant" won the Grand Prix in the section Film Lions at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. In the advertisement, an elephant gets fooled by a young boy and decades later takes revenge, referring to the saying "elephants never forget".[10][11]
From 1980 to 2003, Rolo was advertised with the slogan "Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?"[1][12]
1 Currently manufactured by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods elsewhere. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
