Hershey/Cadbury import ban to US

edited February 2015 in Chit chat
I know there's a few expats and also lots on here who love our Great British choccy, you may or may not have read that Hershey, who own (or license?) the rights to produce Cadbury's brand chocolate in the US have won a lawsuit to prevent UK originated Cadbury chocolate from being imported and sold, claiming brand confusion etc.. They have also extended it to other British sweets that aren't Cadbury, like Maltesers, which are way better than the US styled Whoppers - made by Hershey wouldn't you believe.

I'm not normally that bothered by corporate shenanigans but if you read into it, it's clearly a BS move, anyone who's an expat will tell you that the US brand Cadbury, while being better than normal Hershey chocolate (which is vile), is quite a bit below the standard of proper UK Cadbury's chocolate. I have to admit to buying the Creme Eggs here, but other than that I do not count the US brand as being Cadbury's Dairy Milk at all, just some inferior knock off really, so if I want to get it, I'll pay the extra and get the real stuff.

The thing that bothers me the most though is that this move will prevent the sale of the Christmas selection packs that we all were used to getting at Christmas morning, the only day you could eat chocolate for breakfast :), and I've been continuing this 'tradition' with my boy, stumping up the extra, and he loves it. I can ask for some to be sent over of course, but that's putting the cost onto someone else (my mum doesn't do paypal!).

To me, this clearly is an acknowledgement by Hershey that the peddle an inferior product, and rather than doing it right, eliminating the competition via legal manipulation.

Anyway, there's a petition:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/protest-hersheys-lawsuit

Sign if you are bothered, I'm sure there's a way around it, but I have to say, in our local grocery store (HEB), they have Maltesers for sale in the international isle, which I would get for us every now and then, now I guess that, and for a few other sweets, won't happen any more. Anyway, not that I bought Hershey chocolate much before, although their dark chocolate is ok, I won't be buying any more at all from this point on. Pah. lol
Post edited by Fizza on
«1

Comments

  • edited February 2015
    Sounds like an anti-competitor, anti-customer's interests, money driven move, which seems to happen more and more as you go further up the list of richer and richer companies. Things like life-saving drugs and the environment (you know, little, unimportant things :rolleyes:) are very much secondary in the courts' view to things like profits, sorry I mean well argued cases by multi-million dollar lawyers. I won't mention things like bribery, favour for a favour, a promise of a very well paid job later on, etc, as I've no proof that things take place. Even if they are the only explanation for so many obvious injustices and instances of big companies winning out over the facts and common sense.

    Anyway, from what I remember, Maltesers changed their chocolate a few years back, and aren't nearly as nice now as they were. I haven't tried them for ages (I'm a diabetic, which is fair enough as I used to consume enough sugar per day to give the USA tooth-rot :o:o), but I doubt they've improved.
  • edited February 2015
    Do they still have that seductive-sounding Cadbury's caramel bunny doing the advertising?
  • edited February 2015
    Heard about this a week or so back, and would've started a ranty thread, but I got drunk and forgot about it until I read this...

    The thing that bothers me is the impact on the none Cadbury stuff (I don't even like real Cadburys chocolate that much), Toffee Crisp looks too much like a Reeses Fastbreak B*llocks. They may both have orange packaging, and yellow text, but anybody with eyeballs can tell they're not the same thing. Especially since one is clearly labeled Reeses Fastbreak, and the other is clearly labeled Nestle Toffee Crisp.

    I don't even like Toffee Crisps that much, they've been sh*t since Nestle took over Rowntree's years and years ago, but still how very dare they indeed.

    The main reason they want to ban the import is nothing to do with brand confusion it's the fact that Hershey Chocolate tastes like solid congealed vomit (not even kidding, anybody who's eaten it probably knows what I mean?), and the fact that their licensed Cadburys products are complete sh*t, and when the real thing is available nobody buys the crap.

    Hershey should be closed down they're another corporate stain anyway! People who buy their disgusting chocolate are probably dumb brainwashed "American Patriots" with an IQ of about 78, thinking that suffering through the dreadful, painful, and quite frankly inhuman and cruel act of eating that inedible dump is somehow helping the economy.

    For shame!

    Didn't even mean to rant, but the more I typed the more agitated I started to get, and it just snowballed.
    Morkin wrote: »
    Do they still have that seductive-sounding Cadbury's caramel bunny doing the advertising?

    Don't think they ever did? Caramel's are called Caramello here, and they're crap.
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited February 2015
    Morkin wrote: »
    Do they still have that seductive-sounding Cadbury's caramel bunny doing the advertising?



    Beaverrrrrrr...
    The comp.sys.sinclair crap games competition 2015
    "Let's not be childish. Let's play Spectrum games."
  • edited February 2015
    Morkin wrote: »
    Do they still have that seductive-sounding Cadbury's caramel bunny doing the advertising?
    You do know whose voice that is, don't you?

    Qtv-DickensWomensMiriamMargolyesInStudioQ280.jpg

    Which reminds me:
    Try offering it a cup of Tetley, Brian...
    alien-3.jpg
    ...before you end up with two thousant purrf'rashuns of yer own, lad.
    Joefish
    - IONIAN-GAMES.com -
  • edited February 2015
    Nice bit of illusion shattering there.. :lol:

    I'm sure that second scene was quite scary when I first saw it. That pic makes it look hilarious...
  • edited February 2015
    It's a posed publicity shot rather than an actual movie frame. Who knows how long he had to pull that face for.

    He's probably not used to people trying to kiss his Bottom anyway...
    midsumernitedrim81.bbc_03.jpg
    </Lame shakespeare gag>

    And anyway, some people might have a thing for Professor Sprout.
    Joefish
    - IONIAN-GAMES.com -
  • edited February 2015
    I've no real time for Cadbury since they sold their soul to Kraft. I see redundancies have raised their ugly head again too. A friend of the wife went to work in their HR department a couple of years ago and left within a year; apparently the working conditions and management were awful.

    And the final nail was going to Cadbury World with my girls a couple of years ago, something I'd wanted to do for donkeys years. What a load of **** that was.
  • fogfog
    edited February 2015
    The deal existed when cadbury weren't owned by kraft. Kraft also mucked around with creams eggs in the UK.

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/551580/Cadbury-Creme-Egg-shell-chocolate-changed

    They should never have sold to kraft... Much as the royal mail shouldn't have been sold...its got worse in ways

    I'm seeing it with a lot of pro audio companies that are bought only to be asset stripped and for IPs etc. It sadly does remind me of the business version of sub prime mortgages
  • edited February 2015
    bar stards
    i want mah cadburys
  • edited February 2015
    fog wrote: »
    I'm seeing it with a lot of pro audio companies that are bought only to be asset stripped and for IPs etc. It sadly does remind me of the business version of sub prime mortgages

    Pretty much what happens with game companies as well, Sega is probably next. They look like they're dead on their arse.

    Let's hope we get that western release of Yakuza 5 before one of the gaming ex-giants fades away in a little puff of pink smoke :D
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited February 2015
    fog wrote: »
    The deal existed when cadbury weren't owned by kraft. Kraft also mucked around with creams eggs in the UK.

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/551580/Cadbury-Creme-Egg-shell-chocolate-changed

    They should never have sold to kraft... Much as the royal mail shouldn't have been sold...its got worse in ways

    I was going to post this pretty much. I think it was one of those hostile take overs where Cadburys didn't really have much choice as Kraft were buying up as many shares they could get hold of from what I understood at the time.

    We had a rep in at work who would come around once a month to go over promotions and to let us know what was coming up and he said that Kraft were trying to take over a long time before it actually happened! Needless to say, the first thing Kraft did when they took over was to axe all the reps :-(

    I also remember just before the take over, that Kraft were made to promise that they would protect British jobs. They did, but, I think it was only three weeks after the takeover was completed, they claimed that the largest British production plant was "unviable" and closed it down, moving production to Poland!

    And yes, they've also bolloxed about with the Creme Eggs, reducing the coca quantity to bring it in line with the American counterpart. I read last week the one of the directors finally admitted that they had "reduced the amount of coca in (their) chocolate in order for them to maximise (their) efficiency of (their) coca surplies around the factories" so in other words, they have reduced the amount of coca in all their chocolate, but kept the prices the same to increase profits.

    I try to avoid Cadburys chocolate these days if I can, but I do like it, so it's tough (I have no will power :lol:
  • edited February 2015
    And yes, they've also bolloxed about with the Creme Eggs, reducing the coca quantity to bring it in line with the American counterpart. I read last week the one of the directors finally admitted that they had "reduced the amount of coca in (their) chocolate in order for them to maximise (their) efficiency of (their) coca surplies around the factories" so in other words, they have reduced the amount of coca in all their chocolate, but kept the prices the same to increase profits.

    There were probably some severe legal issues with this, I mean look what happened to Coca Cola, but it is a shame, no wonder I used to like Cr?me Eggs so much when I was younger ;)
    Every night is curry night!
  • zx1zx1
    edited February 2015
    I've never tried Hershey's but a lot of people say it's ****.
    The trouble with tribbles is.......
  • edited February 2015
    zx1 wrote: »
    I've never tried Hershey's but a lot of people say it's ****.

    Their "unique selling point" is they use slightly soured milk for their chocolate, Mr. Hershey must've been a complete f**king Mongoloid to think that was a good idea. Spoiled milk like certain cheeses contains a similar enzyme to stomach acid which in turn makes the chocolate taste like vomit.

    But Americans obviously love the stuff, and I can't work out why?

    I'll be honest though Hershey's Dark chocolate is OK, not good, but OK, basically because it doesn't contain any cheese vomit.
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited February 2015


    :lol:
  • edited February 2015
    Standard Hershey's chocolate tastes like puke to me..apparently they use sour milk which gives it that ...vomit...flavor.

    They do however (I think) make the "symphony" chocolate which if I recall is the US version of Galaxy. Galaxy was always my favorite anyway. Aldi also have a generic brand of raisin and nut chocolate which to me takes exactly like Cadbury's fruit an nut.

    ..so no real loss for me (when I rarely buy it anyway).
  • edited February 2015
    Their "unique selling point" is they use slightly soured milk for their chocolate, Mr. Hershey must've been a complete f**king Mongoloid to think that was a good idea. Spoiled milk like certain cheeses contains a similar enzyme to stomach acid which in turn makes the chocolate taste like vomit.

    But Americans obviously love the stuff, and I can't work out why?

    I'll be honest though Hershey's Dark chocolate is OK, not good, but OK, basically because it doesn't contain any cheese vomit.


    I see I'm not the only one thinking it tastes like vomit :lol:
  • edited February 2015
    Americans dont know any better cos they grew up with this bland hersheys chocolate.
    Americans consumption of chocolate is almost half of the UK, I wonder why!
  • edited February 2015
    beanz wrote: »
    They do however (I think) make the "symphony" chocolate which if I recall is the US version of Galaxy.

    Dove is the US version of Galaxy, it's not terrible, but it's still not quite right.
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited February 2015
    I used to be a big fan of Cadbury's cream eggs, but they spoiled it by mucking about with the recipe, if I eat one now, I get an intense headache within half an hour. I have been told that the yellow colouring was changed and that some people react badly to the new colouring.
    Every time I read that the oldest person in the world has died, I have to do a quick check to see it isn't ME..........
  • edited February 2015
    Going back a few years, and my memory is a bit hazy here as to who it was, but who was it who was getting a creme egg in their packed lunch everyday? I seem to remember an egg counter in their signature too :lol:
  • edited February 2015
    Going back a few years, and my memory is a bit hazy here as to who it was, but who was it who was getting a creme egg in their packed lunch everyday? I seem to remember an egg counter in their signature too :lol:

    Scottie :lol:

    Wonder if he ever ate them all? :D

    I've still got some in my drawer, they're probably off by about 3 years now :lol:
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited February 2015
    i got creme eggs only a few times a year, usually on easter.

    Used to have a hard time starting them cos they were round and my teeth would slide off when trying to bite it.
  • zx1zx1
    edited February 2015
    I find them too sickly sweet to eat, i feel my sugar levels rising and my teeth decaying when i eat them so haven't touched one in years, they're too messy anyway.
    The trouble with tribbles is.......
  • edited February 2015
    Dove is the US version of Galaxy, it's not terrible, but it's still not quite right.

    I can handle Dove, it's pretty tasty, but not as good as Galaxy. I quite like the Lindt stuff, it seems that they figured out the best route to the US was just to keep making it themselves, although to be honest, I never really ate it in the UK, so who knows if it a similar story to Cadbury/Galaxy?
  • I thought Dove was soap?
    Cheeky Funster (53)
  • edited February 2015
    I thought Dove was soap?

    Yes it is, but it tastes great ;)
    Every time I read that the oldest person in the world has died, I have to do a quick check to see it isn't ME..........
  • edited February 2015
    I really don't get the love for Cadbury's chocolate. I always thought it tasted the least choclatey of the main UK brands. I remember the EU almost banned it from being called chocolate as it so low in cocoa, and replaces some cocoa butter with palm oil.

    Even cheap European chocolate only uses cocoa butter and has a much better taste and texture.
  • edited February 2015
    Fizza wrote: »
    I can handle Dove, it's pretty tasty, but not as good as Galaxy. I quite like the Lindt stuff, it seems that they figured out the best route to the US was just to keep making it themselves, although to be honest, I never really ate it in the UK, so who knows if it a similar story to Cadbury/Galaxy?

    I can Verify that Lindors here and back in England taste the same, so they are still good, but they're pricey.

    Probably because they taste nice :D
    Pobbit wrote: »
    I really don't get the love for Cadbury's chocolate. I always thought it tasted the least choclatey of the main UK brands. I remember the EU almost banned it from being called chocolate as it so low in cocoa, and replaces some cocoa butter with palm oil.

    Even cheap European chocolate only uses cocoa butter and has a much better taste and texture.

    Yeah Cadburys chocolate is pretty naff, but it's still a universe of tastiness ahead of Hershey, and the Hershey made stuff isn't as good as the regular Cadbury stuff.

    I did work out there may be a loophole unless they've included it, The majority of Cadburys products sold at World Market here are imported from Australia not Britain, but I think the Aussie stuff is still made in the UK, so it tastes the same.

    I've got Australian Double Deckers from World Market and there's no noticeable difference between them and the UK ones.
    Every night is curry night!
Sign In or Register to comment.