Kit Kat (stylised as KitKat in various countries) is a chocolate-covered wafer bar confection created by Rowntree's of York, England.

[9] The original four-finger bar was developed after a worker at Rowntree's York Factory put a suggestion in a recommendation box for a snack that "a man could take to work in his pack".

[10] The bar was officially launched in September 1935, under the title of Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp (priced at 2d), and was sold in London and throughout southern England.

[6][9] The colour scheme and first flavour variation to the brand came in 1942, owing to World War II, when food shortages prompted an alteration in the recipe.

Its success was followed by several varieties including mint and caramel, and in 1999 Kit Kat Chunky was launched and received favourably by international consumers.

Kit Kat bars in the United States are produced under licence by The Hershey Company, a Nestlé competitor, due to a prior licensing agreement with Rowntree.

In addition, fierce competition from Cadbury's newly formed Dairy Milk superbrand also contributed to Kit Kat sales decreasing considerably in its home market of the UK, and threatened to depose it from its No.1 position.

[19][20] The solution adopted by Nestlé and others was to increase dramatically the number of new and unique variations of their confections and market them as limited or special editions, usually only available for a few months at a time so as not lose sales of their standard products.

[21] The strategy initially reversed the decline of the Kit Kat[22] and has been adopted worldwide by Nestlé, Hershey, Mars, and others with similar success.

They stated that this move would allow for a £20 million investment to modernise the antiquated York factory and improve Kit Kat production.

[34] After launching in the 1930s, Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp was originally advertised with the slogans "the biggest little meal" and "the perfect companion to a cup of tea".

Another short-lived US slogan was "That's What You Want", whose television adverts showed people pulling unlikely foodstuffs from their pockets or purses, before rejecting them in favour of a Kit Kat.

The "classic" American version of the "Gimme a Break" Kit Kat jingle (in use in the US since 1986) was written by Ken Shuldman (copy) and Michael A. Levine (music) for the DDB Advertising Agency.

Versions of the original have been covered by Carrie Underwood, Shawn Colvin, and many studio singers, as well as people who have appeared on-camera in the commercials.

The jingle was cited in a study by University of Cincinnati researcher James J. Kellaris as one of the top ten "earworms" – bits of melody that become stuck in your head.

Another version of the advertising jingle 'Gimme a break' created for Kit Kat "Factory" commercial in the US was an original recording by Andrew W.K.

A 1989 UK television commercial for Kit Kat, in which a zoo photographer "takes a break" from waiting for pandas to appear in an enclosure and misses them performing a dance routine, came in 30th in Channel 4's "The 100 Greatest TV Ads" poll in 2000.

[39] The Maltese tour boat MV Lady Davinia had a distinctive red and white Kit Kat paint scheme before she sank in 2008.

In a 2012 advertising campaign in the UK and Ireland, several new flavours of Chunky Kit Kat were marketed, with consumers being asked to vote for their favourite.

[41] A promotion ran in numerous countries with specially branded Android Kit Kat bars to win Nexus 7 devices and Google Play Store credit.

[45] In the first three weeks of Big Brother Series 7 in the UK, Channel 4 conducted a promotion in conjunction with Nestlé to distribute 100 "golden tickets" randomly throughout Kit Kats, in a style reminiscent of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story.

[46] Members of the public finding these tickets were permitted to use them to give themselves a chance to become a Big Brother housemate and bypass the standard auditions process.

Golden ticket holders were invited to a television show where one of them, Susie Verrico, was chosen to enter the House by Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, picking a ball out of a machine at random.

The flavours are designed to appeal to younger buyers,[53] and are often bought as good-luck gifts as the brand name echoes the Japanese phrase "Kitto Katsu", roughly translating as "surely win.

Large single-fingered "Chunky Kit Kats" were launched in the United Kingdom in 1998 and have been sold in a variety of flavours, such as White Chocolate, Caramel, Hazelnut Cream, and Peanut Butter.

Other forms and shapes include "Choc'n'Go" individually wrapped fingers in France, a twelve-finger "Family Block" available in New Zealand[56] and Australia, round bite-sized "Pop Choc" pieces, square "Kubes", praline-filled "Senses", a yoghurt with Kit Kat pieces, and a Kit Kat ice cream cone.

In March 2010, Kit Kat was targeted for a boycott by Greenpeace for using palm oil, which the environmental organisation claimed resulted in destruction of forest habitats for orangutans in Indonesia.

[64] A YouTube video by Greenpeace went viral[65] and Nestlé announced a partnership with The Forest Trust to establish "responsible sourcing guidelines" and ensure that its products did not have a deforestation footprint.

Dark chocolate: cocoa mass, sugar, wheat flour, palm kernel, palm, coconut and vegetable oils, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter, sunflower and soy lecithins, yeast, sodium bicarbonate, calcium sulphate, salt, protease, xylanase, natural flavours.

The milk chocolate used for Kit Kats is made from whole-milk powder and Nestlé buys most of its cacao beans from West Africa.