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[[File:Polo mints.jpg|thumb|An opened packet of Polo mints.]]
[[File:Polo mints.jpg|thumb|An opened packet of Polo mints wrapped in pork/bacon.]]
'''Polo'''s are a brand of [[sweets]] whose defining feature is the hole in the middle. The [[peppermint]] flavoured polo was first manufactured in the [[United Kingdom]] in 1948 by employee John Bargewell at the Rowntree's Factory, York, a range of flavours followed. The name ‘Polo’ is reportedly from the word ‘Polar’ and is to symbolise the cool and fresh feeling one gets from sucking a Polo.<ref name=BBC>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3073655|title=Polos|publisher=h2g2 at the [[BBC]] website|accessdate=5 June 2010}}</ref>
'''Polo'''s are a brand of [[sweets]] whose defining feature is the hole in the middle. The [[peppermint]] flavoured polo was first manufactured in the [[United Kingdom]] in 1948 by employee John Bargewell at the Rowntree's Factory, York, a range of flavours followed. The name ‘Polo’ is reportedly from the word ‘Polar’ and is to symbolise the cool and fresh feeling one gets from sucking a Polo.<ref name=BBC>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3073655|title=Polos|publisher=h2g2 at the [[BBC]] website|accessdate=5 June 2010}}</ref>


Revision as of 20:47, 14 February 2012

An opened packet of Polo mints wrapped in pork/bacon.

Polos are a brand of sweets whose defining feature is the hole in the middle. The peppermint flavoured polo was first manufactured in the United Kingdom in 1948 by employee John Bargewell at the Rowntree's Factory, York, a range of flavours followed. The name ‘Polo’ is reportedly from the word ‘Polar’ and is to symbolise the cool and fresh feeling one gets from sucking a Polo.[1]

History

Polo mints were introduced by Rowntree's in 1948, and Polo fruits followed soon after.[2] In 1948, when the Polo mint was brought to market, there was no hole in the centre. This was introduced in 1955.

Polo is still Britain's best selling mint brand with approximately 20 million mints produced every day and an average of one hundred and fifty Polos eaten every second.[3]

Varieties

Over the years Rowntree and Nestlé have come up with variations of the Original Polo mint. Some of these have been successes, whereas others have flopped. However, none has been as successful as the Original Polo mint.[1]

  • Spearmint: These Polos have a strong spearmint flavour and aroma. The original design of the sweets had turquoise flecks on them and were mildly triboluminescent, however now they are simply clear white to reduce E numbers.
  • Fruit: These are boiled sweets in several fruit flavours, all in one tube. Flavours include strawberry, blackcurrant, orange, lemon, and lime.
  • Polo Gummies: Fruit-flavoured soft gummy sweets in the polo shape.
  • Sugar free: Sugar free version of the Original Polo containing sorbitol.
  • Polo Holes: Nestlé experimented with this variation for a while. It was the original Polo flavour in the shape and size of the hole in the middle of the Original Polo.
  • Mini Strong Polos: Tiny Polos (about 0.5 cm in diameter) with a strong minty flavour. They were packaged in a box shaped like a Polo Mint. They were also available in a not so successful orange flavour (known as Super OJs) which is no longer available.
  • Smoothies: These creamy sweets came in flavours such as blackcurrant, sunshine fruits and strawberry.
  • Citrus Sharp: Lemon and lime flavoured.
  • Butter Mint Polos: mint-flavour butterscotch.
  • Extra Strong : A rival for Trebor, these were very hot.
  • Ice: These came in a shiny blue wrapper, and had a cooler mint taste.
  • Cinnamon flavoured.
  • Paan flavoured (previously available in India).
  • Mint O Fruit: (available in Indonesia). These come in the following flavours: Raspberry Mint, Blackcurrant Mint, Peppermint, Lime Mint and Cherry Mint. These polos come with the following slogan "Think Plong! Masih Ada Bolong!" These are also sold in the UK in some Poundland stores.

Before this Rowntree had already experimented with different Polos in the 1980s. Polo Fruits were always available but they briefly made:

  • Lemon: Similar to the citrus flavour that Nestlé put out around ten years later, but not identical.
  • Orange: similar to the lemon, but in an orange packet.
  • Tropical Fruit: included Banana, Melon, Coconut and others
  • Globes : small capsules filled with mint-flavoured liquid in a small box with a flip lid

Citrus Polos have been taken off the market. Many people have campaigned to bring them back but have failed.[citation needed].

A recent university study has revealed that polo mints used for a number of years as part of homeopathic treatment have had particularly good effects in those suffering from motion sickness, significantly reducing the amount of 'travel sickness' outbreaks on 98% of journeys carried out. [4]

The mint

A Polo is approximately 1.9 cm in diameter, 0.4 cm deep and has a 0.8 cm wide hole. The original Polo is white in colour with a hole in the middle, and the word 'POLO' embossed twice on one side around the ring, hence the popular slogan The Mint with the Hole.[1] They are hard mints, rather than soft and are small and refreshing.

Ingredients of the main variety include: sugar, glucose syrup, modified starch, stearic acid (of vegetable origin), lubricant(570) and mint oils.

Packaging

Polos are usually sold in individual packs of 23 mints, which measure about 10 cm tall. The tube of Polos is tightly wrapped with aluminium foil backed paper. A green and blue paper wrapper, with the word ‘POLO’, binds the foil wrapper, with the Os in ‘Polo’ represented by images of the sweet. For the spearmint flavour, the paper wrapper is a bluish green, and the Extra Strong flavour is in a black paper wrapper.[1]

Trademarks

When the Trade Marks Act 1994 was introduced in UK, Nestlé applied to register the shape of the Polo mint. The application featured a white, annular mint without any lettering. This application however was opposed by Kraft Foods, the then owner of Life Savers, and Mars UK because of the lack of distinctive character of the mint in question. Nestlé’s application was allowed to proceed if it agreed to narrow the description of the mint i.e. the dimensions of the mint were limited to the standard dimensions of the Polo mint and that it was limited to ‘mint flavoured compressed confectionery’.[1][5]

Kraft Foods and Swizzels Matlow (owner of British Navy Sweets) have made similar applications for annular sweets bearing the mark LIFESAVERS or NAVY. Nestlé has tried to oppose these trademark applications but has failed as the court ruled that customers would be able to distinguish between a Polo, a Lifesaver and a British Navy mint as all of them have their marks boldly and prominently embossed on the mint.[1]

Advertising

In 1995, a major advertising campaign began through TV adverts. The adverts were animated by Aardman Animations and showed Polos in a factory, the leading advert showed a scared Polo without a hole in the factory on a converyor belt try to escape, but he gets restrained where the machine pokes the hole out of him. The adverts were concieved as being rather dark. Polo adverts continued to be humoursly dark, and sometimes rude.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Polos". h2g2 at the BBC website. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  2. ^ Rowntree History[dead link‍]
  3. ^ "Meet the rest of our products". Rowntree's. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  4. ^ "What you should do". Doplio university. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  5. ^ Ward, David (27 July 2004). "A legal case with a hole in the middle". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2010.

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