There Will No Longer Be Real Cadbury's in the US
January 25, 2015 10:18 PM Subscribe
As the result of a lawsuit, Cadbury chocolate made in the UK is banned from import to the US. Outraged lovers of the original British-made formulas are already making petitions and threatening boycotts.
The rights to make and sell Cadbury brand chocolates in the US are owned by Hershey's. Many feel their version of Cadbury's chocolate is inferior to the original.
The rights to make and sell Cadbury brand chocolates in the US are owned by Hershey's. Many feel their version of Cadbury's chocolate is inferior to the original.
This post was deleted for the following reason: oops, looks there's a big ol' Cadbury thread from a few days ago -- maybe post these links there? -- taz
Capitalism FTW!
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:27 PM on January 25, 2015
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:27 PM on January 25, 2015
Jeff Beckman, a representative for Hershey’s, said L.B.B. and others were importing products not intended for sale in the United States, infringing on its trademark and trade dress licensing. For example, Hershey’s has a licensing agreement to manufacture Cadbury’s chocolate in the United States with similar packaging used overseas, though with a different recipe.
Remember though, trademark law is necessary to keep bad actors from flooding the market with lower-quality counterfeits. {/}
posted by Clueless in Crocodilopolis at 10:29 PM on January 25, 2015 [13 favorites]
Hershey's only makes "chocolate" if you're being very, very generous with the term. Yuck.
posted by xedrik at 10:31 PM on January 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by xedrik at 10:31 PM on January 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Hershey's proper has a sour milk taste that is offensive to those not used to it - no idea out their imitation Cadbury's has the same.
posted by Artw at 10:32 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 10:32 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
hershey's milk chocolate smells like diarrhea. it is a fucking abomination unto the lord.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:37 PM on January 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 10:37 PM on January 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Hershey's is shit. It didn't used to bother me, but if they're going to spend lawyers stopping other chocolate from coming in to the US, then we'll just have to emphasize it. Hershey's is shit.
Artw, Hershey's "Cadbury" has that same awful taste. I remember happily buying a Cadbury in my local (U.S.) grocery store, tasting it, and thinking "What the hell is this?". If we're going to complain about deceptive marketing, I think Hershey is the one that should be found guilty. I guess U.S. commercial law just doesn't recognize the fact that there are other markets people participate in.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:37 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Artw, Hershey's "Cadbury" has that same awful taste. I remember happily buying a Cadbury in my local (U.S.) grocery store, tasting it, and thinking "What the hell is this?". If we're going to complain about deceptive marketing, I think Hershey is the one that should be found guilty. I guess U.S. commercial law just doesn't recognize the fact that there are other markets people participate in.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:37 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
if we ask very nicely can we be a crown colony again
posted by poffin boffin at 10:37 PM on January 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 10:37 PM on January 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
You know, for English people visiting the US for the first time eating a Hershey bar is like a rite of passage. It's one of those things that you have to do so you can moan about just how cack US chocolate is.
(Not that UK milk chocolate is exactly the height of chocolate-making, but at least it has its own appeal.)
posted by Thing at 10:43 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
(Not that UK milk chocolate is exactly the height of chocolate-making, but at least it has its own appeal.)
posted by Thing at 10:43 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
A MoveOn petition is appropriate — corporations have too much fucking power in this country. Hershey's chocolate is garbage, and coercing the legal system to keep competitors out is garbage, too. Fuck these guys.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:44 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by a lungful of dragon at 10:44 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
British Cadbury bars used vegetable fats and different emulsifiers.
That heartbreaking past tense!
posted by No-sword at 10:50 PM on January 25, 2015
That heartbreaking past tense!
posted by No-sword at 10:50 PM on January 25, 2015
Fuck you Hershey's, you bullshit fake chocolate garbage nothingness.
Go melt yourself.
IF YOU EVEN CAN MELT
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 10:52 PM on January 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
Go melt yourself.
IF YOU EVEN CAN MELT
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 10:52 PM on January 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
Well, British Cadbury is certainly better than Hershey's, but seriously, if your idea of the height of chocolate is something that "used vegetable fats and different emulsifiers", you need to broaden your horizons. Just buy Belgian or Swiss stuff, or even German, it's widely available in the US, and much better. Ritter Sport is a good place to start, or Lindt, maybe. I can't imagine it's more expensive than specially imported British chocolate.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:05 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:05 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
German chocolate can be crap as well, but maybe not the brands anyone would go to the trouble to import to the US?
posted by Harald74 at 11:16 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Harald74 at 11:16 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Harald74: "German chocolate can be crap as well, but maybe not the brands anyone would go to the trouble to import to the US"
I have no idea, I haven't been to Germany since I was a kid, and I don't think I ate a lot of chocolate. Ritter Sport is pretty good, cheap, and ubiquitous, though.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:25 PM on January 25, 2015
I have no idea, I haven't been to Germany since I was a kid, and I don't think I ate a lot of chocolate. Ritter Sport is pretty good, cheap, and ubiquitous, though.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:25 PM on January 25, 2015
Since we're on the topic of shoddy chocolate, it's a good time to bring up that old post on Noka, the overpriced American chocolatier that was debunked.
posted by FJT at 11:25 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by FJT at 11:25 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
If I want the height of chocolate, I'll buy an Amedei Chuao. But the British make some of the most wonderfully inventive chocolate bars. For instance, Ritter probably uses better chocolate, but nothing they make is as delightful as a Flake bar. Which, being Cadbury, will no longer be imported into the U.S.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:26 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by benito.strauss at 11:26 PM on January 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
For me it's not even necessarily about the quality of the chocolate, it's just that Hershey's doesn't make identical formulas AND now wants to prevent me from getting the other type. If I want to drop $7 on an imported Dairy Milk that should be my right.
That said, one might still be able to sneak the stuff in via Canada.
posted by Peregrine Pickle at 11:30 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
That said, one might still be able to sneak the stuff in via Canada.
posted by Peregrine Pickle at 11:30 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
the first ingredient listed on a British Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (plain milk chocolate) is milk. In an American-made Cadbury’s bar, the first ingredient is sugar
Neither of them are really even chocolate. That said, Hersheys tastes as if soap is a major ingredient.
I have heard that the difference in taste is partially down to American weather - European chocolate would melt in much of the US during the summer, so different ingredients and chocolate processing is done to make the US chocolate less melty. Whether or not that is true, Hersheys did deliberately make at least one bar that resisted melting and didn't taste great
posted by BinaryApe at 11:34 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Neither of them are really even chocolate. That said, Hersheys tastes as if soap is a major ingredient.
I have heard that the difference in taste is partially down to American weather - European chocolate would melt in much of the US during the summer, so different ingredients and chocolate processing is done to make the US chocolate less melty. Whether or not that is true, Hersheys did deliberately make at least one bar that resisted melting and didn't taste great
posted by BinaryApe at 11:34 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Surely this...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:45 PM on January 25, 2015
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:45 PM on January 25, 2015
But hey, y'all can still get Côte-d'Or in the states, right? Hell, they kick Cadbury's ass anyway.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:47 PM on January 25, 2015
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:47 PM on January 25, 2015
if your idea of the height of chocolate is something that "used vegetable fats and different emulsifiers", you need to broaden your horizons.
Not to start a fight with you particularly JZ, but this kind of response always strikes me as missing the point. I don't think anyone buys Cadbury because they do not believe any other chocolate could be better. They buy it because they're Anglophiles or grew up with it. Continental chocolate might be better by any taste-related measure but it doesn't scratch that emotional itch.
posted by No-sword at 11:54 PM on January 25, 2015
Not to start a fight with you particularly JZ, but this kind of response always strikes me as missing the point. I don't think anyone buys Cadbury because they do not believe any other chocolate could be better. They buy it because they're Anglophiles or grew up with it. Continental chocolate might be better by any taste-related measure but it doesn't scratch that emotional itch.
posted by No-sword at 11:54 PM on January 25, 2015
benito.strauss: "Amedei Chuao"
That's chocolate that costs $16.50 for 50 grams. There's no need to go that extreme, in fact, unless you want the absolute best, I'm sure you can get something almost as good for less than half that. But I'm not even talking about those. You can get a 10-pack of 100 gram Ritter Sport bars on Amazon for 15 bucks, or a 12-pack of 125 gram Lindt bars for 30 bucks. Both of those are good, reasonably priced chocolate, far better than anything branded Cadbury or Hershey's.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:55 PM on January 25, 2015
That's chocolate that costs $16.50 for 50 grams. There's no need to go that extreme, in fact, unless you want the absolute best, I'm sure you can get something almost as good for less than half that. But I'm not even talking about those. You can get a 10-pack of 100 gram Ritter Sport bars on Amazon for 15 bucks, or a 12-pack of 125 gram Lindt bars for 30 bucks. Both of those are good, reasonably priced chocolate, far better than anything branded Cadbury or Hershey's.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:55 PM on January 25, 2015
No-sword: "Not to start a fight with you particularly JZ, but this kind of response always strikes me as missing the point. I don't think anyone buys Cadbury because they do not believe any other chocolate could be better. They buy it because they're Anglophiles or grew up with it. Continental chocolate might be better by any taste-related measure but it doesn't scratch that emotional itch."
I don't know. I used to have this relationship with Norwegian chocolate (which is pretty good, better quality objectively, I think, than UK Cadbury's), but when I moved abroad and couldn't get it, I gradually started trying other stuff, and now it's not that special to me. Yeah, it's nice to have it once in a while for the nostalgia, but if I just want chocolate, I'll get some Lindt or Ritter Sport.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:57 PM on January 25, 2015
I don't know. I used to have this relationship with Norwegian chocolate (which is pretty good, better quality objectively, I think, than UK Cadbury's), but when I moved abroad and couldn't get it, I gradually started trying other stuff, and now it's not that special to me. Yeah, it's nice to have it once in a while for the nostalgia, but if I just want chocolate, I'll get some Lindt or Ritter Sport.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:57 PM on January 25, 2015
I just bought two Ritter Sports this afternoon (Winter specials for the win!), but it's not the same experience as a Flake.
Heck, anyone in the U.S. with a Trader Joes can get Ritter/Lindt quality chocolate at a lower price than either of those brands, and possibly less than Hershey's as well, but it's the fact that a big company making a crap product is using restraint of trade to stop us from getting an alternative. That's how the American Auto Industry crashed!!!
posted by benito.strauss at 12:04 AM on January 26, 2015
Heck, anyone in the U.S. with a Trader Joes can get Ritter/Lindt quality chocolate at a lower price than either of those brands, and possibly less than Hershey's as well, but it's the fact that a big company making a crap product is using restraint of trade to stop us from getting an alternative. That's how the American Auto Industry crashed!!!
posted by benito.strauss at 12:04 AM on January 26, 2015
I know someone who works for Cadbury's and they say it's all about the taste of chocolate you acquire as a child. We can all grow up to be adults who appreciate a fine Swiss bar, but we're all also put into subconscious nostalgic rapture by the taste of the first cheap stuff that we bought for ourselves as kids, whether that bar is Cadbury's or something else.
The first 'own purchase' as a child, and sense of control over the desired object, is a moment sought after by Cadbury's very much like the cigarette companies' efforts to hook kids. They have psychologists working for them; it's big business.
posted by colie at 12:07 AM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
The first 'own purchase' as a child, and sense of control over the desired object, is a moment sought after by Cadbury's very much like the cigarette companies' efforts to hook kids. They have psychologists working for them; it's big business.
posted by colie at 12:07 AM on January 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
I just screamed (very quietly because it is midnight where I am). I grew up eating Cadbury's in England and the first time I found the imported Cadbury's in America, I was SO HAPPY. My dad and I keep track of all the stores near us that sell the imported stuff. We're going to be having a very difficult conversation tomorrow morning. Also, I will be researching the best way to store massive amounts of the chocolate that's still on the shelves.
posted by loulou718 at 12:21 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by loulou718 at 12:21 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
So, wait, does this mean my suitcase full of Curley-Wurleys and Double-Deckers will be confiscated at the border next time I land at JFK?
posted by madajb at 12:35 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by madajb at 12:35 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
New Brunswick police find chocolate-laden drone crashed near border-area supermarket
"Forget the heroin and oxycontin, just send Cadbury's," say the addicts of Maine.posted by XMLicious at 12:51 AM on January 26, 2015
No...no Flakes? I thought 2014 was supposed to be the shittiest year.
posted by maxwelton at 12:51 AM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 12:51 AM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
There are plenty of other brands that have better quality chocolate than Cadbury's, but do American options have the same texture? There's a very real texture to a Cadbury's Flake or Wispa that is very hard to come by. Aeros just don't compare.
posted by YAMWAK at 12:54 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by YAMWAK at 12:54 AM on January 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've been to several London supermarkets recently where you can buy imported Hershey's bars. The Cookies and Cream variant seems particularly easy to find, and the price is around 1.80 GBP (three times the price of a native Cadbury's bar). So some ex-pats must have a real taste for it.
posted by colie at 12:58 AM on January 26, 2015
posted by colie at 12:58 AM on January 26, 2015
I wonder: Is Hershey sold here in China done to American of Uk recepie? *off the the shop*
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 1:17 AM on January 26, 2015
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 1:17 AM on January 26, 2015
I love Hershey's cookies and cream bars (stocked in my local Chinese supermarket !?!) but as for the other varieties how do they get that distinctive vomit taste? I have nasty visions of the production line
posted by netty4 at 1:23 AM on January 26, 2015
posted by netty4 at 1:23 AM on January 26, 2015
It's funny how they don't even have to pretend to care what the customer wants. "Yeah, we're changing the taste. It's gonna suck. Tough titty."
Of course you can buy a different brand, but they're all owned by the same handful of companies and they're all getting shittier, too.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:30 AM on January 26, 2015
Of course you can buy a different brand, but they're all owned by the same handful of companies and they're all getting shittier, too.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:30 AM on January 26, 2015
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posted by Artw at 10:23 PM on January 25, 2015 [2 favorites]