Their Love/Hate campaign, as mentioned before, has been one of Marmite’s most successful and memorable advertising crusades to date.

Without a doubt, it takes a highly confident brand to admit that its product is just as loathed as it is adored, but the makers of Marmite are well aware that for those who love it – they really, really love it - and that Marmite is just one of those things, once hooked on, you simply can’t live without. Not to mention one of life’s little pleasures that, as a parent, you just can’t imagine not passing down to your kids.

Further proof of Marmite’s ability to cause cracks within culinary amalgamation is the equally popular ‘I Love Marmite fan club’ (www.marmite.co.uk/love) and the ‘I hate Marmite fan club’ (www.marmite.co.uk/hate). Hard to believe if you are a Marmite lover, but some Marmite haters liken the tasty spread to earwax!

Cult following

Thanks to its company being masters at creating a string of innovative and unforgettable campaigns, Marmite sure gets around. From fashion luminary Vivienne Westwood's Love/Hate T-shirt designs, to the 33 London taxis emblazoned with the same campaign (both named as "icons of British life”), to a Royal visit (the Queen visited the Marmite premises as part of her jubilee tour) – Marmite’s distinctive branding has been successfully emblazoned upon our national retina for over a hundred years.

Add to this the countless websites that have been set up in honour of “My Mate, Marmite” – the hugely successful (yes, another one) Marmite advertising campaign that rolled and rolled during the 1980s, and it’s not hard to see why Marmite is something of a cult product.

Marmite has even inspired art. Sculptor Jeremy Fattorini made a life-size replica of Auguste Rodin’s The Kiss made out of Marmite, which took pride of place in Greenwich Park in June 2008. Until passers-by started to swipe at it with bits of toast that is…

Marmite in fashion

Both British icons well known for having more than a touch of brilliant irreverence and eccentricity; Marmite and Vivienne Westwood joined forces to celebrate Marmite’s centenary in 2002. The cheeky designer created a cheeky limited edition Love/Hate T-shirt featuring the ‘Union Jack’, as well as Kate Moss – an iconic British model if ever there was one – looking as if she was trying to devour a whole jar of Marmite with her perfect pout.

During the same year, another iconic British beauty became the face of Marmite. No, not Naomi Campbell or Kate Winslet. Following in Kate Moss’s footsteps was… Zippy – everyone’s favourite character from Rainbow got his face on special commemorative jars, and his mitts on some Marmite for a TV ad, in 2002 to celebrate both Marmite’s 100th birthday and Zippy’s 30th. Go Zippy…

Keeping up the habit of collaborating with fellow British treasures to increase the product’s popularity, Marmite hooked up with another favourite children’s character – the bear everyone loves to love – Paddington Bear. Famous for his penchant for marmalade sandwiches (he always has an “emergency” one in his suitcase), Paddington made an unprecedented move for a television advertising campaign in 2007 by giving Marmite and cheese a whirl instead. Commenting on his new sandwich, the loveable bear said, "It’s really rather good".

Your views

If the huge influx of public (and very passionate!) comment on ICONS is anything to go by, everyone – love it or hate it – has an opinion on Marmite. Here are some of your thoughts on the nation’s most famous vegetable extract:

The very essence, the apogee, the towering height of English achievement! I have been an expatriate for 25 years, and the two things English I absolutely CANNOT do without are PG Tips and Marmite. For years I flew back whenever I was in danger of running out. I am convinced that my robust health is largely due to me having eaten the stuff regularly since the age of three. I shall die happy if I have a nice piece of hot buttered toast with a delicate brown stain of Marmite melting into it. Australians compare their disgusting Vegemite to Marmite: Pah! Americans cannot tell the difference: Fools! Only someone raised since childhood knowing this saviour of savours can really understand the true joy that Marmite brings.

Marmite, especially to an ex-patriot, is a comforting shaped jar with a comforting smell and taste – a reminder of childhood.

First of all: I hate Marmite. I came across it as a language student (I am German) and everybody in England seemed to like it. The English seem to love it passionately - and every attempt I have witnessed to lure the average European palate to a good helping of Marmite has failed. Therefore I came to this conclusion: the liking of marmite is in your very genes. And those genes must be British!

If I'm going abroad, there's always a pot of it in my luggage – usually to the amusement of some of my non-Marmite liking friends. I've tried my best to spread its yeasty goodness beyond these shores, but so far the Americans, Poles and French appear unconvinced! Try it in a sandwich with Frosties – honest, it works! 

Definitely a very British thing, when my brother was living and studying abroad, students from other countries thought he was playing a practical joke on them when he offered them Marmite, and he had to eat some first to prove that he wasn't trying to trick them into eating something disgusting. (And of course most of them DID think it was disgusting when they tried it...)

Millions of children have been brought up on marmite, the taste and design of the product has not changed in decades - it is the ultimate comfort food for expatriates everywhere, and can now be bought all over the world. Oh yes - and you either love it or you hate it!