Back in the 60s Lyons Maid teamed up with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and their "Supermarionation" cast to launch two of the funkiest iced treats to ever grace the freezer department.
Summer has swung around again and we've hit ice lolly season, a traditionally opportunity for nostalgists to wax lyrical about their favourite iced treats of yesteryear. The ice cream battle between Walls and Lyons Maid brought about some truly memorable sweet treats. However when Lyons Maid teamed up with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson they created two classics of the genre. Both "Zoom" and "Fab" are just fantastic demonstrations of commercial design that have become as instantly recognisable for their aesthetic as for their taste. Like Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans" they've managed to move beyond being supermarket staples to Pop-Art statements.
Lyons Maid first launched the "Zoom" in 1963 as a tie-in with the early Gerry Anderson television series "Fireball XL5". A cool rocket-shaped iced lolly originally in strawberry, banana, and raspberry, with a matching colour-block design. The "Zoom" was arguably the ideal tie-in for Anderson's space-age "Supermarionation" shows, and it would famously later team up with "Joe 90" in a commercial. Thanks to its rocket shaped design "Zoom" main commercial target was young boys. This left something of a gap in the market, so Lyons Maid decided to create a more feminine looking lolly designed especially for girls.
The more feminine "Fab" was launched in 1967 and was marketed as the iced treat of choice for "Thunderbirds" star Lady Penelope. The name "Fab" was itself taken from the show where the the phrase "F-A-B" was used regularly as the Supermarionation varient of Roger. The original packaging featured Lady Penelope and her trusted butler/driver Parker on the wrapper, and the lolly itself consisted of a strawberry fruit ice and ice cream with the top portion dipped in chocolate before being coated with hundres and thousands.
Both "Zoom" and "Fab" continued within the Lyons Maid range until the brand was sold to Nestle in 1992, although the association with the Thunderbird's team ended in the early 70s. "Fab" has continued within the Nestle range to this day but sadly "Zoom" appears to be consigned to the history books. Both however live on as design icons, with their retro aesthetic and colour-block design they both instantly conjure up summer time fun. Two timeless designs and fabulous colour-pops from yesteryear.
