Footballing Legend John Barnes ‘Back Again’ with Rap Music Video for Quality Street Christmas Campaign

Quality Street and footballing legend John Barnes, have teamed up for the ultimate Christmas collab – creating a rap music video to celebrate the brand’s recyclable paper wrappers. Barnes is not only one of the country’s best-loved footballers, but also a rapping icon thanks to his cameo appearance in the 1990 England World Cup song, ‘World in Motion’, which spent two-weeks at #1 on the UK music charts in June 1990.

The Christmas-themed music video, ‘Street (W)rappers’ pairs a slick production with cues from iconic rap videos. Barnes, in a vintage shell suit with toffee penny ‘medallion’, tells us to 'keep it simple, keep it sweet, recycle your Quality Street’. We see Christmas-grotto style scenes spliced with Barnes showing off his moves at the ‘club’, complete with Quality Street coloured strobe lights.

John Barnes commented, “Quality Street and Christmas go hand in hand for me and my family. I loved flexing my rapping skills again, 33 years after the original, and if that gets people to recycle their Quality Street wrappers at home, I’m all for it. And who knows? Maybe this is the rap I'll be performing every chance I get!” 

Jemma Handley, senior brand manager for Quality Street added, “Working with John Barnes was a no brainer for us – an England footballing legend who's also a superstar rapper – he was the only man for the job. We’re so proud that every Quality Street chocolate in our assortment is now in a recyclable wrapper and the music video is a brilliant way of letting our consumers know that after they’ve enjoyed their Quality Street this Christmas, the wrappers can go in the usual household recycling.”

The single paper wrap, which was initially introduced to the Quality Street tins in 2022, replaced the double-layer cellulose and foil wrappers, removing almost two billion pieces of packaging material from the supply chain. This year, the brand has completed the move to paper wrap across nine of its 11 chocolates, with the Green Triangle and Orange Chocolate Crunch remaining in recyclable foil.

Find out more about Quality Street’s landmark move to recyclable paper wrappers here.