Cadbury losing the comparative advertising war

We are serious chocaholics - about two king size blocks a week. In the past this has been Cadbury but not any longer. Not since they sneakily changed the product on us and substituted it with inferior tasting Australian made chocolate. What ever happened to the glass and a half of full milk? Tastes like a dash of skim milk powder now! I recently read that Cadbury was one of NZ's most trusted brands - not any longer. I say to other chocaholics vote with your stomachs...

Their recent ad campaigns have used the line "good honest chocolate" but I also can't recall seeing the NZ angle pushed until now.

Evidently it wasn't until 1992 that the company hit the dingos up.

Perhaps they're too modest for their own good?!

Interestingly, nearly all the Whittaker's dark versions don't contain milk (a happy advantage for the lactose intolerant).

Highly recommend viewing their past ads on the website, very funny.

My friend made me do a blind taste test on the weekend between the two products. The difference was amazing - Whittakers tasted like proper chocolate and Cadbury's tasted like that horrible imported stuff you get from The Warehouse. I've always been a fan of Cadbury's but the taste has really gone downhill (not to mention the environmental bad karma fom using palm oil), I won't be buying again until they change the recipe.

Their PR is like their chocloate, weak and not created with any empathy for, or understanding of, the market.
Their PR has for sometime been a perfect case study of how NOT to do anything with media - bad, bad, bad.

Hi my name is Susan and I am a chocoholic - but I have no intention of giving up chocolate all together, just Cadbury Chocolate!

Hazel is dead right, the rot started last year with the Snifters debacle - does it not occur to the PR/Marketing Team that perhaps they should survey consumers before they make these sort of decisions?

The really galling thing about Cadbury is how they make changes - or delete products - without warning. Had they told us in June 08 that they had just produced teh last batch of Snifters then those of us who love them could have had a stock up, but no they wait until Sept 08 and then say - sorry last batch made 3 months ago - stiff bicky to all the Snifter lovers. Same problem this year, suddenly blocks are smaller, softer, and really greasy tasting - oops forgot to let you know that we are making major changes to a NZ icon.
I have always found that buying Cadbury chocolate in Oz has been a major disappointment, so usually stock up on a few blocks before we go on holiday - plus have Kiwi's there who also preferred NZ Cadburys - looks like that is over now, and will be taking stocks of Whittakers instead. No more Cadbury for me, so that's $10-$20 week that will go to Whittakers - and for caramel fans try the Whittakers Dark Caramel, especially good when eaten straight from the freezer!!

I gather there's a taste/texture difference in Cadbury chocolate depending on the country where it is made, due to the need for different melting temperatures (ie Aus would have a higher melting point than the UK). Could be a myth, but I do recall a few Brit friends in Aus bringing back hoards of the UK stuff because it tasted different.

Afew weeks ago when news of this started filtering out I started a facebook group "Take Palm Oil out of Cadbury Chocolate" - it has swelled to close to 2000 members, all boycotting cadbury in disgust. I also started a petition which now has close to 1400 signatures. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Remove-palm-oil-from-cadbury
Cadbury have screwed up bigtime. Consumers are not stupid sheep. We have voices and vote with our wallets!

It would seem that attempts to confuse the public with packaging, size, prices is a "legitimate" marketing ploy!
Just look at Beer and the number of different sized packs that can be found on the shelves.
However, marketers do not call it "confusion," they call it "obfuscation" which only further confuses the consumer.
Interestingly, Supermarkets are now pricing goods with a "price per weight" on the price tag.
This is an attempt to clarify the obfuscation. Perhaps they should also have a % of cocoa butter per 100g of chocolate block
If Cadbury was playing baseball, this would seem like "Strike Three" - and there is no confusion there.

At least we have a choice. Personally I prefer, Toblerone, Lindt and Valrhona. I guess if I was going to clog the arteries, might as well be the good stuff.

If Cadbury NZ was smart, they would maintain the old size, at least match the Cocoa content, reduce or remove the vegetable palm oil fat, manufacture and sell locally to compete with Whittakers then also export the chocolate to Australia as a premium environmental(no palm oil) product. This would also then give the dingoes a choice of their locally manufactured product as well as a premium imported product.

Personally, I prefer Toblerone, Lindt or Valrhona. If I was going to clog those arteries, it might as well be the good stuff.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, if Cadbury NZ was smart they would continue to manufacture here and match Whittakers quality contents. They would sell here and also export it to Australia as a premium product. This would give the dingoes a choice of their local product as well as a pricier imported environmental (no palm oil) alternative.

As a chocoholic Cadbury has been converting their blocks over the last 18 months from NZ to Aus. Aus chocolate is definitely different - I suspect has higher melting point as country temperatures are higher i.e. has more 'hardner/ cremelta type ingredient. Caramello is nothing like the old with Aussie chocolate and a different caramel. I sent an e-mail complaining 18 months ago when heard of staff redundancies in Dunedin and didn't even reply. Am now 100% Whittakers fan.

By far the best NZ made and owned chocolate product is Richfields 70% dark cocoa range. It will beat Whittakers hands down in any blind taste test - I'm surprised it isn't more readily available.

Hey, if you want real chocolate, you need Schoc Chocolate (from Greytown NZ, with a Wellington outlet). Now they know how much cocoa to add! Cheers, Will

Richfields is indeed about as good or even a little better than Whittakers, but I'll happy buy either.

Schoc is simply wonderful stuff but is more than $10 for a much smaller block than the Cadburys or Whittakers, so more for special ocassions than for the daily scoff.

It's so obviously all about money saving and misleading the consumer which is happening all around us. It's time for the ethical consumer revolution.
Palm oil (vegetable fat) is added to chocolate in Australia as it increases the melting point which isn't required in UK and NZ cooler climates as suspected in previous posts. I suspect the reason for adding it here is so the Oz and NZ markets can be treated as one which in turn will save more money for Cadbury's.
Cadbury's are putting their profits before all NZer's, the environment and their customers. Time we all got back to community living and support each other rather than continue to put money into the pockets of foreign business men.