The world of chocolate, ever wacky, does not disappoint. This week’s story involves a cake artist who “creates edible chocolate baby heads from life-size moulds.” The UK’s Daily Mail has the details.

Cadbury Dairy Milk brand, which has a long history of trying to outdo itself with lively stunts and advertisements, recently launched a fan appreciation campaign in celebration of reaching one million fans on its UK Facebook page. So what did they do this time? They commissioned a crew of trademarked-Cadbury-purple-clad sculptors to fashion a giant thumbs up version of the Facebook “Like” button out of 3 tons of Cadbury Dairy Milk bars. Then they broadcast the whole shabang via Facebook livestream over the course of fourty-eight hours.

Here’s a short video (just over one minute long) detailing the building process:

Cadbury donated all the chocolate to a company working to develop renewable fuels, where scientists will use it to continue their research. Clearly, research on chocolate is where it’s at.

Itching to see more of Cadbury’s stunts? You can head over to the brand’s UK Facebook page to check out the 30 foot tall Magnificent Musical Chocolate Fountain they’ve got going on in magical Joyville right now. Or check out this past Bittersweet Notes post on Chocolate Stop Motion Videos for an example of one of Cadbury’s stickier ad campaigns.

And while you’re at it, readers, visit Bittersweet Notes’ fledgling Facebook page and “Like” away for chocolatey updates in your News Feed. I promise to do something insane when the page reaches 1 million fans.

via @Gachatz of Alinea

Read:

Achatz and his team at Alinea have earned the position as best restaurant in North America for staying ahead of the curve and constantly being innovative. As a diner, when you sit down for that mutli-course meal, you want your mind blown. This new dessert, dubbed “chocolate, pumpkin pie,” was inspired by the film The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. Even as a mere viewer, you will have your mind blown. Just watch.

via Eater Chicago

Watch:

First, the good news — no one was hurt.

Now, the bad news — 21 tons of chocolate sauce were forever lost near Bitburg, Germany, when the truck in which they were being transported overturned. The accident, which spilled hundreds of 25 liter buckets filled with liquid white and milk schokolade onto a busy roadway, blocked traffic for several hours, halting thousands of drivers. The liquid chocolate quickly hardened and coated the road surface upon exposure to the fresh air. A group of 36 firefighters worked to remove the chocolate by spraying it with fire hoses. Property damage is estimated at 100,000 euros or more.

The area is expected to smell like chocolate for a while, at least until the remaining chocolatey puddles evaporate or wash away.

According to this article, “Driver Marek Kolvichi, 28, who was unhurt in the spill, said: ‘I don’t think I ever want to see or smell another bar of chocolate in my life.’” That is perhaps the most tragic part of this story. Keep calm and carry on, Mr. Kolvichi, and may your love for chocolate return to you soon.

You can watch a video of the aftermath here (narration in German).

On August 26, Pierce, also known as The Truth, tweeted a photograph of the figurine, captioning it “The chocolate Truth.” Here it is:

He also tweeted the following image of himself with his commemorative chocolate figurine:

This is totally awesome. It also raises a lot of questions. How is it that, in the past several years, basketball has gained such popularity in China that an NBA star’s visit would bring about a promotional figurine? Why might a figurine in China be made out of chocolate? (See also China’s Chocolate War.) Moreover, it seems plain to me, but others might not agree — racial factors are at play here, intentionally or otherwise, are they not? Put more simply, would Larry Bird’s figurine have been made out of white chocolate? For more on the complexities of chocolate and race, see Cadbury’s ill-fated advertising campaign in 2009. Oh, and then again in 2011. This is just the tip of the iceberg. How does this figurine exemplify or differ from the other ways that chocolate is used in ritual or commemoration? And, for those of you who experience a certain sadness when eating chocolate bunnies, would you do the humane thing and eat Pierce’s figurine head first?

Here are nearly five minutes of excellent reasons for Pierce’s commemoration:

While we’re at it, check out Pierce’s inspirational campaign:

Paul Pierce’s Truth on Health campaign empowers and encourages young people to lead healthier lives by providing them with the information, resources, and tools necessary to become more active and physically fit. To learn more, visit www.truthonhealth.org.

Yeah, the world of chocolate is wacky.

“The Cacao Rap” from Christian Bates and Irresistible Health.

Lyrics are available here.

This coffin in the shape of a cocoa pod is on exhibit at San Francisco’s de Young Museum.

Museum notes:

Kane Kwei
Coffin in the shape of a cocoa pod
Ghana, Teshi, Ga people
Ca. 1970
Wood, paint, cloth
Gift of Vivian Burns, Inc.

Kane Kwei (1927-1992) was a Ghanaian artist who lived in the city of Teshie, near Accra. He was once apprenticed to a carpenter and sometimes made coffins, which traditionally were straight-sided rectangular boxes. When Kwei’s dying uncle, a fisherman, asked him for a special coffin, he made one in the shape of a boat. Soon other customers asked Kwei to build representational coffins, the subjects always alluding to their lifetime trades or status. The most popular early shapes were boats, fish, mother hens with chicks, onions, and cocoa pods (in the 1970s Ghana was the world’s largest cocoa producer).

Unlike most traditional African art, Kane Kwei’s coffins are pieced together like European furniture rather than carved from a single piece of wood. They are finished with enamel paint. Each one has a hinged lid and an upholstered interior (satin, velvet, or tie-dyed), including a mattress and pillow.

Suggested reading:
Ghana Coffin: Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop, a site built by visitors to the Kane Kwei workshop in Ghana.

Funeral chic: Colorful coffins convey the deceased’s interests, profession, an article introducing these types of coffins and their connection to northern California.

Going out on a high: The master sculptor who turns caskets into works of art in the shape of fish, birds… and even aeroplanes, an article about a coffin gallery exhibit in London.

Two Journeys: The Deaths and Lives of Ga ‘Fantasy Coffins’, a longer piece that contextualizes Ghanaian funeral traditions and the question of funeral coffins as art.

This piece, traditional or not, art or not, pushes me to think more on the flexibility of funeral customs, symbolic objects and the deceased, and the relationship between chocolate and grief.

Wooo!

Everybody in the world likes chocolate
Mmm we love it!
Whoa it makes you happy
Yeah, it gets you sexy
It makes you fat!
But we don’t care about that!

Uno, dos… uno, dos, tres!
Mama she said roly poly,
Papa he said holy moly,
Everybody wanna chocolate
(Choco choco)
All the girls were canny canny
All the boys get ready ready
Everybody wanna chocolate

C’mon!!
Choco choco – clap clap
Choco choco – slap slap
Everybody sayin’ chocolate
Choco choco – clap clap
Choco choco – slap slap
Everybody sayin’ chocolate
C’mon!!

Chocolate
(Choco choco)
(Repeat)

Here we go… uno, dos, tres!
Mama she said roly poly,
Papa he said holy moly,
Everybody wanna chocolate
(Choco choco)
All the girls were canny canny
All the boys get ready ready
Everybody wanna chocolate

C’mon!!
Choco choco – clap clap
Choco choco – slap slap
Everybody sayin’ chocolate
Choco choco – clap clap
Choco choco – slap slap
Everybody sayin’ chocolate
C’mon!!

Chocolate
(Choco choco)
(Repeat)

Uno, dos, tres!
Wave to the people on the left hand side
Now wave to the people on the right hand side
Now wave to the people with the pretty backsides
Now we do it all again and we feel alright

Uno, dos… uno, dos, tres!
Choco choco – clap clap
Choco choco – slap slap
Choco choco – clap clap
Choco choco – slap slap
Choco choco – clap clap
Choco choco – slap slap
Everybody sayin’ chocolate
C’mon!!

Chocolate
(Choco choco)
(Repeat Till End)

Watch the trailer:

Read the synopsis:

Prachya Pinkaew, director of Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior, returns with CHOCOLATE, an explosive new martial arts masterpiece starring his new protégé, “Jija” Yanin Vismistananda, who spent five years training for the role. Jija plays Zen, a young autistic girl who grows up next to a Muay Thai boxing studio and is raised on a steady diet of chocolate and marathon viewings of Tony Jaa and Bruce Lee films. Zen’s father, a Japanese gangster, has been driven out of the country by a rival Thai gang, so her mother has been forced to raise her alone.

It becomes clear over time that Zen has miraculously absorbed formidable Muay Thai techniques from watching the boxers next door and repeated viewings of martial arts classics. When Zen’s mother is diagnosed with cancer and the cost of treatments prove overwhelming for the family, Zen sets out with her cousin on a violent mission to collect debts from the corrupt gangsters that owe her mother money.

Featuring death-defying stunts and a charming newcomer who is sure to blow the minds of martial arts fans everywhere, CHOCOLATE represents Prachya’s proper follow-up to the smash success of Ong Bak.

(via Magnolia Pictures)

“‘CHOCOLATE’ is a sweet, brutal, bloody treat.” – Harry Knowles, Ain’t It Cool News

“One of the most anticpated films for well over a year, CHOCOLATE is madness. Madness of the brilliant, painful kind.” – Todd Brown, Twitch

Wow. Need I say more?

The film is widely available to watch online, e.g. via YouTube or Netflix.

Image courtesy of Enokson

Turns out, marketers have long understood the importance of scent to triggering the desires of smellers. That’s why, when I read this article in my sinus pressure induced haze, all I could think was “I wish I could go smell that right now!”

From the article:

A supermarket chain thinks the fastest way to its customers’ pockets is through their noses, so it’s filling up the aisles with intoxicating, artificial food aromas to entice customers to buy.

A Net Cost supermarket in Brooklyn, N.Y., has specialized scent machines mounted on its walls that fill the air with a never-ending scent of decadent milk chocolate or fresh-baked bread, among other scents.

The Brooklyn supermarket has five of the machines, including a grapefruit smell in the produce section, chocolate in the candy aisle and rosemary focaccia by the bakery.

These scent machines are pricey, costing the supermarket $99/month. The store’s merchandise coordinator, however, states that she has already seen a 7% rise in produce sales, which she attributes to use of the machines. Not too shabby!

Learn more in this video from CBS News:

There are a number of other notable chocolate scent marketing cases. For example, when Verizon launched its LG Chocolate phone back in 2006, it used small plastic strips that emitted chocolate scent in its stores to lure customers in and excite their interest. And, according to an in-depth article from the Los Angeles Times, chocolate scent marketing has proven efficacy: “In 2006, when ScentAndrea, a scent marketing company in Santa Barbara, put chocolate scent strips on 33 vending machines in factory break rooms in Ventura (plus a sign that said it was Hershey’s candy people were smelling) the brand’s sales tripled.”

The product lines for scent marketing are really fun to learn about – there are scent cannons to remove odors, scent lights to project images and release scents, scented digital signage for use in store displays… There’s even a whole bunch of so called scent science in process. And just when I was thinking it’s too bad we can’t yet smell scents through our web browsers, I ran across this Scent Mouse, which can be customized to release up to four scents during the exploration of a website, and the ScentScape which claims to deliver “the NEXT Dimension of Digital Media” by releasing scents during gaming.

The scent marketing industry brings in hundreds of millions of dollars a year and is still expanding. Get a whiff of that chocolate.

For a basic intro to the field, check out this video, “What is Scent Marketing”:

Also check out the following companies and institutions to get a better sense for the industry:
ScentAir
ScentAndrea
Scent Marketing Institute

Sniff, sniff!