Farmer's Union Iced Coffee

Infobox Beverage
name = Farmers Union Iced Coffee


manufacturer= Kirin
type = Milk beverage
origin = Australia
introduced = 1977
colour = Coffee
flavour = Coffee
variants = Light, Regular and Strong flavors

Farmer's Union Iced Coffee is a flavoured milk drink popular in Australia, primarily the States of South Australia and Tasmania, made by Farmer's Union under National Foods, which was owned by Filipino conglomerate San Miguel Corporation, and is now owned by Japan's second largest brewer, Kirin.

Farmer's Union Iced Coffee is made with coffee, glucose, and homogenised reduced fat milk and milk solids. In the past Farmer's Union Iced Cofee's labelling also made mention of "iced confection" as an ingredient. The flavour of the product changed considerably when this ingredient was removed.The product is available predominantly in 600 millilitre and smaller 375 millilitre cardboard cartons. It is also sold in 1 litre cardboard cartons, 2 and 3 litre plastic cartons and 500 millilitre plastic bottles. First launched in 1977, as of 2006 the brand has achieved iconic status in South Australia and is now also available in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Queensland.

It is especially popular among men who would not normally choose milk based drinks and has the reputation as an excellent hangover cure.Fact|date=May 2007

In 2003 Australians consumed in excess of 22,000,000 litres of Farmer's Union Iced coffee, making it Australia's best selling flavoured milk drink/milk shake at that time. [ [https://www.acnielsen.com.au/SSL/file_download_pdf.asp?ID=308 Convenience Report 2004, ACNielsen (PDF document)] ] The drink's popularity has more recently been reflected by some McDonald's, KFC and Hungry Jack's restaurants selling it as a part of their menus across the country. Farmers Union Iced Coffee outsells Coca-Cola in South Australia, [ [http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23919278-1246,00.html Coca Cola takes on milk to win back fizz | NEWS.com.au ] ] making it the only place in the world where a milk drink outsells a cola product, and one of the few places that Coca-Cola is not the most popular bottled beverage.

Commercials

Farmer's Union Iced Coffee in Australia also enjoys a high profile for popular commercials featuring rough male workers acting out ballet with heavy machinery in order to take up their boss on his word that he would provide them with a truck load of Iced Coffee if all his workers took up ballet.The current advertisement features a dramatic voice-over detailing world headlines and issues but shows relatively low-key average Australian equivalents on screen. These include:

*"When the wall came down" - depicts two men demolishing a wall as part of a DIY project. This relates to when the Berlin Wall was demolished
*"Survived the Apollo Disaster" - shows three motorists (one consuming Iced Coffee) as their Holden Apollo is towed away after an accident. This may refer to one of two major incidents involving Apollo spacecraft—either the Apollo 1 fire, in which three astronauts died during a launch-pad test exercise, or the Apollo 13 explosion, which scuttled a planned lunar landing but saw the three astronauts safely return to Earth.
*"There when the bras were burnt" - shows an absent minded male watching television as a bra is burnt by an iron in the foreground.
*"When Chisel broke up" - shows a construction site with a devastated builder holding two pieces of a broken chisel. Refers to when the band, Cold Chisel broke up
*"Saw Cathy in Sydney in 2000" - shows one male supposedly meeting with an old friend in Sydney who is also named Cathy. Relates to Cathy Freeman winning the 400m in the Sydney Olympics
*"The Children Overboard" - shows two males in a speedboat talking as their children have fallen off the back in an inflatable that is being towed. Refers to the scandal when the Howard government falsely claimed that children were thrown overboard from a boat full of asylum seekers.
*"Lived through the Millennium Bug" - shows a man in a dinner suit in a sleeping bag drink an Iced Coffee while slapping a bug on his neck. Relates to the survival of mankind from the year 1999 to 2000 (aka the year 2000 problem).
*"...and Trevor's Underarm" - shows two construction workers both drinking Iced Coffee; one lifts his arm revealing his body odour and the other recoils in disgust. Refers to Trevor Chappell's infamous underarm delivery on the last ball of a One Day Cricket International. Features actor Terry Rogers in an early role.
*"Strongly opposed the Bush Invasion" - shows a man cutting his neighbours overhanging bushes. Relates to the opposition of George Bush leading the invasion into IraqThis TV advertisement struck a chord with the relaxed Australian attitude when compared to the glamour of advertisements such as Coca Cola.

New flavours

As of Monday the 23rd October 2006, two new flavours of Farmers Union Iced Coffee were released in South Australia. Farmers Union Strong Iced Coffee which features a stronger coffee blend, now sold in Tasmania, and Farmers Union Light Iced Coffee which has no added sugar and a taste similar to the original.

Also sold under Farmer's Union imprint are the Feel Good range of low-fat/sugar milk drinks, currently including coffee and chocolate flavors.

ee also

* [http://www.farmersunion.com.au Farmer's Union Website]
* [http://www.history-ad.com/history-ad/default.aspx Iced Coffee History Ad]
*South Australian food and drink

References