Chocolate elitism

You can make your own comparisons to Sax, outdoor recreation, and/or to the enjoyment and love of nature generally.

from http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/chocolate-elitism :

11:12 Jul 17, 2009 149

Chocolate elitism

Someone else has covered off the death of consumerism today. This leaves me free to talk about chocolate. I really like chocolate. I do not like big-bar commercial chocolate, so Cadbury’s recent decision to make its chocolate even worse (and even more ethically dubious) by putting palm oil in it will not affect me personally as a consumer.

Cadbury’s stated reason for adulterating its chocolate with palm oil – that its customers have expressed a desire for chocolate that is even more soft and greasy – does, however fill me with dread. The flagship Dairy Milk chocolate contains only 21% cocoa solids in the first place, putting it well on the road to wtf-is-this Hershey Hell anyway. And now they’ve made it even more mucky.

So I do think that Whittaker’s has a point in its attack advertising against Cadbury, even if its marketing director Philip Poole should never be allowed on Close Up again without some media training (Philip: “We believe we have a better product” might be a good marketing line. And stop closing your eyes on television). Whittaker’s is the best of the big-bar chocolate brands, and the Peanut Slab has an undoubted iconic appeal.

But really: when there is the choice of a number of fair-trade brands (including the sub $5 Scarborough Fair range) and in a city where Phillippe’s hand-crafts slim, shiny slabs of 70% cocoa heaven, I don’t understand quite why people prefer the mucky stuff. You can’t even use the “dark chocolate is full of life-giving antioxidants” rationalisation. I suppose this makes me part of the chocolate elite.