Cococubs were a set of 32 hollow-cast hand-painted lead figures given away with Cadbury’s Bournville Cocoa from 1934 to 1939. They were designed by the commercial artist and illustrator of children’s books, Ernest Aris, and manufactured for Cadbury by Britains, the iconic UK manufacturer of lead soldiers and miniature diecast toys.

Cococubs became available just as Britain was coming out of a depression and few families had spare income to indulge their children with toys. It was the world’s first example of a company including a child’s toy to promote the marketing of a product.

The scheme was a huge successful. Some 300,000 children joined the Cococub Club, which issued a newspaper to its members, together with a badge and membership card.  This complete set of Cococubs, with membership badge, was donated to the Museum by Valerie Boughton in 2016.