On Sunday, in The Observer's Pendennis column, I noted that Cadbury's had refused permission to the maker of an ITV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's novel Octavia to use a Flake for on-screen behaviour described as 'seductive'.
With apologies to anyone who didn't want his or her Sunday cornflakes troubled by this mental image - and indeed anyone who doesn't much like it now - I'm intrigued to think about why they weren't keen.
It certainly kills off the idea that all publicity is good publicity. And if the idea of an attractive actress finding a Flake sexy (the actress in question is Tamsin Egerton) is an anathema to them, they're certainly bucking the trend when it comes to the general direction of most adverts around.
So what image do they want a Flake to have? Probably not the one that urban legend has of all the scraps of chocolate discarded from the manufacture of Dairy Milk that end up on the factory floor, swept up and stuck flakily together.
Or was it just Jilly Cooper they didn't like? I hope not, as she bears them no ill will at all.
