Nestlé’s former marketing director has acknowledged that the controversial “It’s not for girls” advertising campaign for the Yorkie chocolate bar would be unlikely to be accepted in today’s social climate. Andrew Harrison, who oversaw the campaign, said the adverts, which played on gender stereotypes, thrived in a time before heightened sensitivities around gender and social media scrutiny.

The campaign, which ran from approximately 2002 to 2012, portrayed Yorkie as a distinctly masculine chocolate bar. One notable advertisement featured a girl disguising herself as a man—complete with a fake mustache and builders’ clothing—to buy the chocolate, undergoing humorous tests to prove she was “not a bird.” Another poster advised young men against buying chocolate for their girlfriends, encouraging them instead to enhance their driving skills.

Mr. Harrison described the campaign as “tongue in cheek” and noted that it relied on stereotypical “blokey humour,” something he believes would be deemed inappropriate today. “We assumed in those days everyone had a sense of humour,” he said, contrasting the approach with the current era of what he termed “wokey correctness.” Despite its use of gendered themes, the promotion resulted in a significant increase in Yorkie sales among both men and women.

The campaign’s origin was tied to a broader effort to update the Yorkie brand from its 1970s image, when it was marketed as the “macho” chocolate bar targeting a male market segment. Earlier advertising featured a lorry driver consuming a Yorkie bar while driving over the Humber Bridge, embodying a rugged masculinity. The “It’s not for girls” campaign was intended as an ironic counterpoint to the sensual, female-focused chocolate adverts prevalent in the 1990s, such as Cadbury’s Flake commercials featuring women indulging in baths.

Interestingly, Harrison revealed that the campaign was largely developed with input from senior women on the Nestlé marketing team and advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, which he suggested complicates modern criticisms. The brand even released a limited edition pink wrapper version “especially for girls” in 2006, responding to unexpected demand among female consumers.

Nestlé officially discontinued the “not for girls” slogan around 2012 and later shifted to promoting Yorkie with slogans like “man fuel for man stuff.” The company now positions the chocolate as a product for all consumers regardless of gender. A company spokesman emphasized that the campaign was “an old marketing campaign” and said Yorkie is “of course for everybody to enjoy,” with no plans to revive the previous messaging.