Yorkie's biggest marketing moment wasn't really about chocolate at all — it was a tagline so deliberately blunt that it ended up being debated by advertising regulators and banned by city councils, while the chocolate itself barely changed.
The 2002 relaunch
Nestlé repositioned Yorkie in 2002 around a wrapper tagline reading "It's Not for Girls!", supported by around £3 million in television and print advertising. The campaign leaned hard into exaggerated, old-fashioned blokiness — long-distance lorry drivers, chunky portions, a bar "too thick" for anyone but a man — playing the joke as broad enough that Nestlé clearly expected at least some of the reaction to be eye-rolling rather than outrage.
What the regulator actually ruled
It's easy to assume a campaign like this got banned outright; it didn't, at least not by the advertising regulator. A poster run drew 97 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority on the grounds that it reinforced sexist attitudes, and the ASA rejected them, finding the complaints weren't justified. A follow-up advertorial and sticker promotion in FHM magazine drew a further complaint, which the ASA also didn't uphold, concluding the ad was more likely to be read as humorous than degrading.
What did get banned was narrower and more local: a promotion giving away free Yorkie samples exclusively to men was blocked by Liverpool City Council and Birmingham City Council, on the basis that excluding women from a public giveaway crossed a different line than a joke on a wrapper.
The slogan outlived the controversy, then got dropped anyway
"It's Not for Girls!" stuck around on Yorkie packaging for years after the initial fuss, despite the complaints. Nestlé eventually retired the slogan in 2011, stating simply that it hadn't used it for some time and had no plans to revive it — a quieter end than the campaign's launch.
What we actually stock
Yorkie itself is still very much on sale: we carry the Yorkie Milk Chocolate Bar 3 Pack Multipack 138g, the Yorkie Milk Chocolate Duo Bar 72g, Yorkie Raisin & Biscuit Duo Bar and the Yorkie Salted Caramel Pretzel Duo Bar.
Frequently asked questions
What was Yorkie's 'Not for Girls' campaign?
A 2002 relaunch with the wrapper tagline "It's Not for Girls!" and a roughly £3 million advertising push built around deliberately old-fashioned, masculine humour.
Did the Advertising Standards Authority ban the Yorkie adverts?
No — the ASA rejected complaints about both a poster campaign and an FHM advertorial, ruling neither was genuinely offensive.
So what actually got banned?
A men-only free-sample promotion, which Liverpool and Birmingham councils banned.
Does Yorkie still use the 'Not for Girls' slogan?
No — Nestlé dropped it in 2011 and has no plans to bring it back.