Nestlé's Discontinued Alpine White Bar Had A Truly Bonkers Commercial
In U.S. grocery stores, you'll no longer find Nestlé brand chocolate bars in the candy aisle. That's because, in 2018, the brand sold its American candy division to Ferrero, giving up the rights to all of the candies it made popular, including Butterfinger, Crunch, 100 Grand, and Baby Ruth. At one point, Nestlé's line of confections also included Alpine White bars, but they never proved as iconic as the brand's other products.
Despite being a basic white chocolate bar with almonds, Alpine White was introduced as "the latest craze from Europe." Judging by the highly produced commercial that Nestlé released upon the product's debut in 1986, it seems Nestle initially expected it to become as popular as its other candies, or at least a permanent addition to its chocolate lineup. Alpine White bars even had their own theme song, but unfortunately, Nestlé would go on to discontinue them after only a few years.
Nestlé's Alpine White commercial was more like a music video
The first Alpine White commercial ran only 30 seconds, but Nestlé pulled all the stops to produce it. Nestlé hired the same advertising agency responsible for the famous "I don't want to grow up" Toys "R" Us campaign, and even sought out the services of jingle writer Lloyd Landesman, who also composed music for major products from Pepsi and Budweiser.
In this over-the-top commercial, an Alpine White candy bar was shown from different angles, being dipped in white chocolate, and zoomed in on. But the majority of the commercial actually highlighted people dressed in all-white, engaging in various activities in slow motion, such as skating on an ice rink and swinging on an outdoor swing in front of a snow-capped mountain. And all of this unfolded as a background singer crooned about how creamy and white the chocolate was.
There was a sequel to Nestlé's Alpine White commercial
According to actor Todd McDurmont, who both uploaded it to YouTube and appeared in it many years prior, the original Alpine White commercial aired for three years. During the summer of its release in 1986, Nestlé also released a second commercial for Nestlé Milk Chocolate with Almonds, a product that was exactly like Alpine White, but made with milk chocolate rather than white chocolate. In this second commercial, instead of white clothing and wintery activities, the actors did things like lay on the beach and dance in the sunset. The same tune played in the background of the commercial, but instead of the lyrics touting white chocolate, the singer mostly spelled out the word "Nestlé" on repeat.
In 1989, Nestlé made yet another Alpine White commercial similar to the original, followed by a fourth one in 1990. In the 1990 version, Nestlé hired singer Sophie B. Hawkins to take over the jingle. Incidentally, Hawkins went on to become more well-known than the chocolate bar she sang about pre-fame. In fact, despite Nestlé's many commercials, Alpine White just never caught on.