La Marmotte

You know how some ads just work their way into popular culture? Think of the Yellow Pages ad (“Not happy, Jan!”) or G-O-G-G-O (the Goggomobil ad, again Yellow Pages). Or how about Mortein’s Louie the Fly?

France has its own classics and one of the best known is this ad for Milka, the confectionary company. The ad is self-explanatory, until we get to the strapline:

Man: Et alors la marmotte, elle met le petit chocolat dans le papier d'alu.

Woman: Mais, bien sûr!

Translation:

Man: And so the woodchuck puts the chocolate in the alfoil.

Woman: But, of course!

Ever since the ad’s appearance in France in the late 1990s, whenever someone says something outlandish or is seeming a bit crazy, one might hear: Et alors, la marmotte…