This weekend Cadbury Dairy Milk Ice Creams are being handed out in Covent Garden (from Friday until Sunday) and hidden inside one is a golden lollystick worth £10,000.
The giveaway is part of Cadbury's search for a new generation of lolly stick ticklers following the nation’s biggest ever gag competition, @goldenlollyjoke on Twitter.
Frederick’s Dairies, who make and sell the ice cream lollies under licence for Cadbury, turned to the social media website for inspiration ahead of producing a new range of lolly stick jokes in 2013. The initiative was launched following customer research which found that 66% of British ice cream fanatics would love to see the return of the lolly stick joke. More than 2,000 entries came via Twitter as micro bloggers flexed their humour muscles in search of a £5,000 prize.
The winning joke has been penned by Charlie Thomas (@swingitcharlie), a Newcastle scaffolder by day and part of a Rat Pack tribute act by night. His winning joke is:
‘Who is in charge of the hankies? The hankie-chief’.
Top 10 Joke Entries @goldenlollyjoke:
1. Who is in charge of the hankies? The hankie-chief! – (12.4%) - @swingitcharlie
2. Why are crabs trying to take over the sea? Because they're shellfish – (11.6%) - @dave_giz
3. What did the buffalo say to his child when he was leaving for uni? Bison – (8.7%) - @MartinDarko
4. Where did Noah keep all of the freshwater fish? In his multi-storey Carp Ark – (8.45%) - @TonyCowards
5. Why did the cow get thrown out of the darts competition? Because she hit a bulls eye – (7.2%) - @bellmusic
6. I've got a joke about Elton John. It's a little bit funny – (7.1%) - @jcodfishpie
7. Why did the cheese maker walk with a limp? Because he only had one stilton – (6.95%) - @QuintinForbes
8. Who is president of the Zoo animals? Barack O'Llama – (5.35%) - @zoolander1978
9. What is Bilbo Baggins' favourite part of a cooker? The hob bit – (5.1%) - @Alan_Machnik
10. Who did King Arthur get to look after his napkins? Sir Viette - (5%) - @hilaryobcorne
For children of the 60s ,70s and 1980s the joke was an essential part of the lolly experience. Stick jokes were phased out from 1988 but will be brought back next year by Cadbury Dairy Milk Ice Cream due to a surge in demand.
