Audacity is Cadbury 5 Star’s middle name when it comes to its ads. And the brand’s long-standing collaboration with Ogilvy has worked magic again—ditching cliches and delivering a Valentine’s Day campaign that’s as hilarious as it is brilliant.
This isn’t your typical lovey-dovey ad.
Instead of selling romance, the brand flipped the script, turning Valentine’s Day into something so uncool that Gen Z wouldn’t want to touch it. How? By assigning older couples to flood the occasion with their over-the-top romance—because nothing kills a trend faster than uncles embracing it with full enthusiasm.
It’s an innovative play on a cultural truth: Once the older generation hops on a trend, the younger crowd runs the other way. There is a long list of examples: from skinny jeans and ‘YOLO’ to social media apps like Facebook.
And unlike most digital campaigns that rely on gimmicks, this one puts real money behind the joke—it funded “uncle romance” as part of a live social experiment.
The campaign isn’t just entertaining; it’s interactive. Through their website destroyvalentinesday.com, users could nominate their own “uncles in love” and even earn a commission for their efforts.
Its originality and sharp execution are in complete alignment with Cadbury 5 Star’s cheeky brand personality—‘Eat 5 Star and Do Nothing.’
The result? In just 12 days, the video has clocked 50 million views on YouTube.
According to the comment section, “It was a great strategy of luring the singles and the couples as well.” Some even said that they got “nostalgic and a non-skippable feeling that comes from old 2005-2015 ads.”
But, the question is—who wants to be counted as an uncle nowadays?
Anti-Valentine’s Day
For the last few years, Cadbury 5 Star has been on a mission to get rid of Valentine’s Day.
This year’s campaign follows the brand’s 2024 initiative ‘Erase Valentine’s Day’. In it, Cadbury 5 Star ‘created’ a travel vessel.
The vessel traversed a certain path, which allowed it to ‘skip’ Valentine’s Day. The ad was set in an ISRO-like control centre. They even got legendary aerospace scientist Nambi Narayanan to ‘explain’ the science that allowed the crew to eat 5 Star bars and do nothing.
In 2023, the brand created an ‘evacuation zone’ for the singles.
It was set up in the ‘mushiest’ spot in the country—Bandstand, in Mumbai’s Bandra area.
Only singles were allowed to enter the evacuation zone, where the first step was to clean the mush residue on them via fresh air. Each was given a survival kit which included a pair of glasses, earplugs and a 5 Star bar—so they could sit back and do nothing.
While the 2023 campaign has racked up 5.9 million views, the travel vessel video has over 18 million views.
But their biggest hit is from three years ago—Valentine’s Day Alibi— which currently has 29 million views on YouTube.
In it, the brand took over an island on the west coast of the country and renamed it ‘my cousin’s wedding’. It was an alibi for everyone escaping Valentine’s Day—‘Oh I’m out of town, I’m going to my cousin’s wedding’.
It gave the opportunity for single people to sit back and do the best thing ever — you guessed it—‘Eat 5 Star and Do Nothing’.
Every year, Cadbury 5 Star creates a clever and humorous way to avoid the typical Valentine’s Day hype.
They come up with meme-worthy content, engaging clips, and flawless execution.
They’ve completely flipped the script, taking a fresh spin on the usual Valentine’s clichés of chocolates, flowers, and gifts.
However, not everyone is laughing. Some may view their latest campaign as poking fun at older generations, turning their love stories into jokes.
Is it harmless fun or borderline mockery? That depends on who you ask.
In the age of energy bars and brand-conscious Gen Z, 5 Star is a millennial’s choice. Now it’s trying to be relevant by dissing old friends to make new ones. Over to sales numbers.
Brand: Cadbury
Agency: Ogilvy
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)