The Romans bite into the Jaffa Cake debate

Just as tensions were dying down over the perennial Jaffa Cake debate, a museum has resurfaced the debate, with a little help from The Romans and pladis.

McVitie’s owner, pladis, and creative PR agency, The Romans have revealed their first campaign for McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes: ‘The Biscuit Muse-errrm?'.

The campaign saw the creative agency go under the radar with a tongue-in-cheek story that the nation’s number one biscuit museum had added the iconic Jaffa Cake to its halls of fame.

The campaign was kicked off by a covert partnership with Gary Magold and Frank Turner - curators of the Biscuit Museum in Bermondsey, South East London. Together, they unveiled a new, unlikely, exhibit dedicated entirely to the humble Jaffa Cake.

The museum shared its excitement about the new addition across its social channels, sparking instant debate with biscuit enthusiasts up and down the nation. The announcement took an unexpected turn, however, when McVitie’s served a cease & desist letter to the museum.

A snippet from the letter reads:

“Dear Sirs, Madams, and Biscuit Enthusiasts,

It has come to our attention, with no small degree of dismay, that the Biscuit Museum has included the humble Jaffa Cake within its exhibition of biscuitry.

We write to you today, not with crumbs of animosity, but with a full slice of firm objection.

Allow us to be clear: Jaffa Cakes are, in fact, cakes.

Not biscuits. Not hybrid snacks. Just cakes. Some would say the clue is in the name on the box.”

The results reignited a national debate, with headlines landing everywhere from the Mail Online to The Guardian and London Standard, along with same-day broadcast features on ITV’s Lorraine and This Morning.

Continued mayhem

Phase two of the campaign saw the museum’s curators enter discussions at McVitie’s HQ in a demonstration of British snack diplomacy.

In a bid to delight fans and quell the crumbling tensions, the campaign culminated with news that McVitie’s and the museum had opened a dedicated ‘Cake Wing’ - designed to house the museum’s Jaffa Cakes exhibit in its own dedicated space.

This announcement resulted in genuine visits from the public to the new Cake Wing and coverage across LADBible and Verge.

James King, marketing director for McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes, said: “The question of whether a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit has sparked social media spats and divided households for decades. Our latest campaign with The Romans added fresh fuel to the debate, reminding fans (and museums) of the true status of our iconic treat.”

Dan Roberts, executive creative director at The Romans added: “The cake vs biscuit debate is as old as time, so we decided this year it was time to do things a little differently. Now, the suggestion of suing two lovely blokes like Gaz and Frank at the UK’s #1 biscuit museum is one that can easily put the fears in a client. But, with a big dollop of unmistakable Jaffa humour, we issued a spoof cease and desist that managed to entertain the nation, and spark the debate all over again.”

A tasty history

McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes has run several campaigns to assert that Jaffa Cakes are cakes, not biscuits, capitalising on the long-standing debate, which draws from a real-life dispute.

The debate over Jaffa Cakes’ classification reached a UK VAT tribunal in 1991, as biscuits are subject to value-added tax (VAT) while cakes are not. McVitie’s argued successfully that Jaffa Cakes are cakes, citing their sponge-like base, egg and flour ingredients, and tendency to harden when stale (a cake trait). To prove their point, McVitie’s famously baked a giant Jaffa Cake during the trial.

The tribunal ruled Jaffa Cakes as cakes, exempting them from VAT. This legal victory became a cornerstone for future marketing, framing Jaffa Cakes as cakes in both law and branding.

The furore, of course, provided some irresistible creative opportunities for the brand. Its “Not a Biscuit” Campaign (2024), by TBWA\London was launched to comically combat persistent “biscuit believers”. The campaign used outdoor, digital, and social media to emphasise Jaffa Cakes’ cake identity. Featuring bold visuals with arrows pointing to the word “Cakes,” it included playful comparisons like “A biscuit - is a biscuit. A Jaffa Cake - is not a biscuit. A duck - also not a biscuit.”

https://www.linkedin.com/posts...

The campaign built on earlier efforts, responding to ongoing debate. The ‘Jonut’ launch (2021) saw McVitie’s introduce the “Jonut,” a doughnut-shaped Jaffa Cake variant, to “spark further conversation” about its cake status.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts...

The launch leaned into the cake narrative by emphasising the sponge base and cake-like innovation.

Credits

The Romans
Executive creative director: Dan Roberts
Managing director: Indigo Le Fèvre
Associate director: Paige-Lauren Minns

Senior creative: Scarlet Pughe
Account director: Fiona Miranda
Junior creative: Jodie Trussler
McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes
CMO: Asli Ozen Turhan
Marketing director: James King
Head of Media & Digital: Carly Hunt
Marketing manager: Jessica Woolfrey
Senior PR and social media manager: Kate Williams