Complete the advertising slogan 'Have a Break, Have a ______'.

The first use of the tagline ‘Have a Break. Have a Kit Kat’, written by the agency’s Donald Gilles, can be traced to May 1957. A year later it was used on the first television spots for the brand and ever since has been a staple of campaigns for the chocolate bar. Initially the line reflected the welcome 11am tea break – ‘elevenses’ – common to British factories. But as it became more widely used, particularly on television, the flexibility of the phrase became the key to its longevity. The benefits in taking a break from something could be applied to all manner of stressful (and potentially comedic) situations.

One popular TV spot from 1989, for example, depicted a photographer patiently trying to snap a pair of pandas in a zoo. Only while he is taking a break do they finally emerge – on roller skates.

Similarly irreverent humour had been used in a 1987 commercial, No Rest for the Wicked, which followed a devil and an angel enjoying a break from the routine of their respective ‘jobs’ in the foyer of an otherworldy office building.

In each (and there are dozens of TV commercials) the ‘Have a Break. Have a Kit Kat’ line worked because of its association with recognising life’s small defeats, rather than glorifying its triumphs. Interestingly, in the US in the 1980s the clauses were reversed so the line became the more instructive, but far more lumbering, ‘Give Yourself a Kit Kat. Give Yourself a Break’.