Heartland television commercials: Cadbury, the EU and Brexit

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article argues that certain Cadbury television advertisements reflect a change in the relationship between the north and the south of England. Historically, the south of England has understood the north, let us say, the North, as a relatively backward and impoverished region while the south, let us say the South, has seen itself as the heartland of England. In the disillusionment felt about the EU, and reflected in the Brexit vote, this distinction was reversed. The South, especially London, became seen as the site of a cosmopolitanism which was giving away English identity for the sake of an unwanted European integration. The North became seen as the site of true Englishness. This article argues that this shift is apparent in a set of television advertisement for Cadbury’s chocolate blocks set in an unspecified northern city