Cadbury’s ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’ is missing this Diwali and India’s sweet tooth can feel it

New Delhi: If you’ve walked through India’s festive lanes this October, something feels a little off. The lights are brighter, mithai boxes shinier, and influencers busier — yet there’s an invisible void in the air. The kind of void that hums between firecracker pops and WhatsApp greetings. The kind of void that usually went, “Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye.”

This year, for the first time since 2004, Cadbury’s iconic festive tagline, once as synonymous with Diwali as diyas and discounts is missing from the country’s advertising landscape. 

Cadbury is still very much here, of course. The shelves are packed with limited-edition Cadbury Celebrations Crackers and Cadbury Celebrations Fusions, an innovation-led range blending traditional Indian flavours like Rabdi, Son Papdi, and Kesar Badam into chocolate form. 

But that unmistakable line, “Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye,” has quietly disappeared from the country’s collective Diwali consciousness.

The line that changed how India gifted

Back in 2004, when Cadbury first introduced “Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye,” the idea was audacious for its time. Indians didn’t think of chocolate as “festival food.” Sweets meant laddoos, kaju katli, and soan papdi, not Dairy Milk. 

But the brand, along with Ogilvy, cracked a cultural insight: India doesn’t need an occasion to have something sweet, the act of sweetness itself is the occasion.

From Amitabh Bachchan’s charming “Pappu pass ho gaya” ad to small-town cricket wins and college goodbyes, “Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye” became shorthand for everyday joy. 

The line carried not just the warmth of chocolate but the cultural rhythm of celebration. It was more than advertising; it became a habit, a post-script to good news, a national nudge toward small indulgences.

By 2018, the line evolved to “Kuch Achha Ho Jaaye, Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye,” a subtle yet telling shift. 

The new version turned the lens from self to society. Cadbury wasn’t just about celebrating your  moments; it was about spreading sweetness outward - helping strangers, appreciating differences, and choosing kindness.

The campaigns that followed deepened this idea. There was the 2020 AI-led “Not Just a Cadbury Ad,” which geotagged over 1,800 local stores into the film, and its 2021 sequel featuring Shah Rukh Khan as a “brand ambassador for local businesses.” 

Then came 2022’s #ShopsForShopless, giving virtual visibility to hawkers, and 2023’s #ThisAdIsMyStore, spotlighting homepreneurs and small women-led ventures.

For nearly two decades, Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye wasn’t just Cadbury’s tagline, it was its moral compass.

A quiet festive season from the house of sweetness

Fast-forward to 2025, and something’s changed. With Diwali slated for October 21, the festive advertising buzz is in full swing. Yet Cadbury’s campaign is conspicuously missing from screens and feeds.

There’s no TVC, no hyperlocal digital film, no celebrity-driven warmth that defined the brand’s festive footprint. The only visible activity so far revolves around product innovation, new Crackers and Fusions packs designed to mimic the excitement of fireworks and the nostalgia of mithai.

“Diwali is always a special occasion for us at Mondelez India, as it brings alive the true essence of Cadbury Celebrations. This year, we’re deepening that connection with consumers through two new innovations inspired by India’s festive spirit,” said Nitin Saini, Vice President, Marketing, Mondelez India, in a recent statement.

But beyond product-led communication, there’s no integrated campaign carrying forward the Kuch Meetha sentiment, a first in 21 years.

So, what happened to the sweetness?

Marketers have been quick to speculate why Cadbury’s creative presence feels muted this time. 

Some point to a strategic recalibration, after years of purpose-driven storytelling, Mondelez may be consolidating its message around innovation and retail visibility rather than emotional filmcraft.

The absence of a fresh Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye campaign this Diwali could be a result of shifting business priorities. Unlike previous years, when the festive season was marked by new creative interpretations of the iconic theme, this year appears to be more product-driven. The focus may be on highlighting the product and its packaging rather than launching a new conceptual leg of the campaign.

There’s also a creative fatigue angle. After back-to-back award-winning campaigns that stretched technology and emotion, taking a breather before reinventing the wheel may simply be part of Ogilvy and Mondelez’s creative cycle. 

Reinventing something as beloved as Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye requires more than a clever film, it demands a cultural moment.

For a brand that’s practically defined what “festive sweetness” means in India, its silence this year is deafening.

The tagline outlived its original ads. It became a cultural shorthand, much like Amul’s topical hoardings or Fevicol’s one-liners. Few campaigns in Indian advertising have achieved that kind of staying power.

So when the campaign doesn’t show up, it’s not just the marketing world that notices, consumers do too.

What’s next for Cadbury’s Diwali playbook?

The brand’s recent focus on innovation, from mithai-fusion chocolates to festive-themed packaging, suggests a possible product-first pivot. Mondelez’s global strategy has been leaning towards premiumisation and gifting experiences, and the new packs could be a testbed for that.

However, given the brand’s deep emotional equity in India, a total retreat from storytelling feels unlikely. More plausibly, we might see a reinvention, a refreshed campaign that modernises Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye for the AI, e-commerce, and influencer era, perhaps even reimagining “sweetness” as digital kindness or modern generosity.

Until then, the silence is striking.