I was walking past the Salvos near work in South Melbourne last week when I spotted a CD of the soundtrack to The Full Monty sitting in a little rack in the window display for $2. It instantly sent me back to 1997, and it reminded me that Smith’s once made a chip named after the film.
The soundtrack, spotted at the Salvos.
What Was The Full Monty?
For anyone who missed it, it’s a British comedy about a group of unemployed steelworkers in Sheffield who form a male strip act to make some money. Their big selling point is that, unlike the Chippendales, they’ll go “the full monty” and strip all the way. I’ve still never seen it, so all I know about the plot comes from the trailer and a bit of reading.
It was a massive deal at the time. The film cost about $3.5 million to make and went on to gross over $250 million worldwide. It even became the highest grossing UK film of its time. As far as I can tell, it was huge with middle aged women in Australia, so I guess it was the Magic Mike of its day. I was 9, so it really didn’t interest me.
Maybe when Magic Mike XXL came out, Smith’s should have done another promotion, but only in massive XXL size bags. I have no idea if that would make sense or not as I’ve not seen that film either.
The Chips
The chips, however, did interest me. Smith’s released a limited edition Full Monty flavour in 1998, and the packet promised cream cheese, chives and bacon, seasoned with onion, garlic and tomato, with cheddar cheese. They were crinkle cut, which I always preferred, and they were surprisingly good.
AI-upscaled version of the packet from an empty packet photo I found on the Australian 90s/00s Nostalgia Facebook page.
The Smith’s Cartoon Family
I also remember Smith’s had a weird cartoon family (where the male family members always had their dongs visible) in a lot of its ads around this time. It was a hand-drawn stick figure family on what looked like lined exercise book paper, and the dad character would hold up the packet. I’m not sure what these characters were called and I’ll probably do another article about them later, but if they are not called “The Smiths” then that’s certainly a missed opportunity.
A screenshot from the ad, with the dad taking off his belt doing a striptease.
Did The Flavour Make Sense?
Not to me, at the time. It tasted like they’d taken a bit of everything and mixed it together. If the chips were truly accurate to the film, shouldn’t they have been totally flavourless? Naked chips, if you will.
Again, I was 9 years old and hadn’t seen the film (and still haven’t); I just knew it had naked dudes in it. Outside of the film, “the full monty” is a British expression meaning the whole thing, and nobody can say for sure where it came from. The most popular theories are a three-piece suit from Burton’s (a menswear store), or Field Marshal Montgomery’s love of a big breakfast (a British commander in both world wars). There’s a good rundown of the other theories too.
So Smith’s weren’t being random. They put everything in the packet because that’s literally what the name means. It’s a smarter bit of marketing than I gave it credit for at 9. I still think the name was confusing, but they tasted good so that’s what matters.
Did They Come Back As “The Works”?
A commenter on the Facebook post said the flavour was re-released later as “The Works”. As far as I can tell, Smith’s doesn’t make a flavour with that name in Australia. The commenter was likely confusing it with ETA’s Ripple Cut “The Works” chips from New Zealand, which have bacon, cheddar, sour cream and chives. New Zealand products, such as chips, often make it into Australian supermarkets, so it’s an easy mix-up to make. If you remember Smith’s bringing the Full Monty back under another name, let me know.
What Happened To The Soundtrack CD?
The next day I walked past the Salvos again and the CD was gone from the window. Curiously, I went inside to see if it had sold, but it seemed they had just refreshed the window display and it was there with the rest of the albums. I did take a look at the track list, which is as follows:
- The Zodiac by David Lindup
- You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate
- You Can Leave Your Hat On by Tom Jones
- Moving On Up by M People
- Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
- The Full Monty by Anne Dudley
- The Lunchbox Has Landed by Anne Dudley
- Land of a Thousand Dances by Wilson Pickett
- Rock & Roll, Pt. 2 by Gary Glitter
- Hot Stuff by Donna Summer
- We Are Family by Sister Sledge
- Flashdance… What a Feeling by Irene Cara
- The Stripper by Joe Loss & His Orchestra
If you’d rather listen to the whole thing in one go, it’s on Spotify too.
Did You Try Them?
If you remember these, or the cartoon family, let me know on Facebook. If you like content like this, follow the Australian 90s 00s Nostalgia page, they always have cool old stuff on there that heavily inspires my content.
