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The Wispa comeback
It is the story fans of lost sweets dream about. Cadbury killed off the Wispa, the internet demanded it back, and Cadbury listened.
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The Wispa is a bar of aerated milk chocolate made by Cadbury. Its story is one of the few in the world of discontinued sweets with a happy ending, and it was written by its fans.
Launch
Cadbury launched the Wispa in 1981 as a trial in North East England. It was a success, and the bar went national in 1983, as Cadbury's answer to Rowntree's Aero.
How the bubbles get in
The Wispa's texture comes from tiny bubbles. Molten chocolate is aerated with gas, usually carbon dioxide or nitrogen, under high pressure, which creates microscopic gas bubbles in the liquid. As the chocolate cools, the pressure is lowered to normal, the gas pockets expand and are trapped. Air is not used, because it would oxidise the chocolate.
Dropped in 2003
In 2003 Cadbury turned Dairy Milk into a family of sub brands, and as part of that relaunch the Wispa was discontinued. In its place came Dairy Milk Bubbly, a standard moulded bar rather than a single countline bar.
The campaign
Fans did not accept it. Internet campaigns and an online petition to bring back the Wispa slowly gathered momentum. Bring Back Wispa groups sprang up on Bebo, MySpace and Facebook. At the 2007 Glastonbury Festival, during a performance by Iggy and the Stooges, several Wispa fans invaded the stage with a banner reading Bring Back the Wispa.
Cadbury listens
In August 2007 Cadbury announced that the Wispa would return on 8 October 2007, with a limited run of 23 million bars and the promise of a permanent return if sales were strong. They were. The Wispa came back permanently in October 2008.
The comeback even had a comic sequel: in 2008 a woman auctioned an out of date original Wispa, found in a sofa, on eBay for charity.
The lesson
The Wispa showed that, sometimes, loud enough fans can bring a sweet back from the dead, a hope shared by fans of Spangles, the Texan bar and many more. For others still waiting, see sweets you can no longer buy.
Citable formats
For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
Free to cite, quote, and reuse with attribution to sweeties.net.
Questions and answers
When was Wispa discontinued?
In 2003, when Cadbury replaced it with Dairy Milk Bubbly as part of a relaunch of the Dairy Milk brand.
Why did Wispa come back?
Fans ran internet campaigns and petitions, and set up groups on social networks. In 2007 some even invaded the stage at Glastonbury with a banner. Cadbury relaunched it in October 2007 and made it permanent in 2008.
How do they get the bubbles in a Wispa?
Molten chocolate is aerated with gas, usually carbon dioxide or nitrogen, under high pressure. When the pressure drops as it cools, the tiny bubbles expand and are trapped in the chocolate.
Sources
Keep reading
- British heritage sweetsSweets you can no longer buySpangles, Pacers, Aztec, Texan, Opal Fruits and Marathon: the British sweets and bars that disappeared or changed their names, and the few that came back.
- British heritage sweetsSpanglesSpangles were square boiled sweets with a dimple on each side, made by Mars from 1950 to 1984. In 2008 they topped a poll of brands Britons most wanted back.
- British heritage sweetsTexan barThe Texan was a chewy nougat and toffee bar covered in chocolate, sold with cowboy adverts. It was withdrawn in 1984 and briefly brought back in 2005.
- Sweet scandals and controversiesHow Cadbury was sold to KraftIn 2010 the American food giant Kraft bought Cadbury for £11.5bn after a hostile bid. How a British institution was sold, and why it still stings.
- Sweet scandals and controversiesThe Creme Egg recipe rowIn 2015 Cadbury changed the Creme Egg shell from Dairy Milk to a standard milk chocolate and cut packs from six eggs to five. Fans revolted and sales fell.
- Sweet scandals and controversiesWhy Cadbury lost its royal warrantIn December 2024 Cadbury lost the royal warrant it had held since Queen Victoria's day. The Palace gave no reason, but campaigners had pointed to Russia.