Cadbury chocolate blocks get the chop

Cadbury has responded to increased costs by chopping a row of chocolate off its blocks.

Cadbury's decision to cut the size of its family block instead of increasing the price is the wrong decision, according to marketing expert Brandon Wilcox, principal of Evolve marketing agency.

"People are resigned to price increases," said Wilcox, Cadbury's ex-marketing manager, "but they hate having something taken away from them."

"We resent price increases but understand they're a fact of life. But what we really hate is having something taken off us. If we have to pay the same price for a row of chocolate less, we feel robbed," said Wilcox.

According to Wilcox, Cadbury should still be in reputation rebuilding mode after the palm oil fiasco.

"It reflects poor judgement to further tarnish their reputation with missteps like this, on top of the 2009 family block size reduction, which they partially backed down from in 2013 following a consumer backlash, or the recently-announced Creme Egg recipe change."

"Removing Dairy Milk milk chocolate from the Creme Egg recipe is another example of people having something taken off them," said Wilcox.

"The only winner will be Whittaker's. Whittaker's have replaced Cadbury as the quintessential Kiwi brand. Every time Cadbury stumbles, Whittaker's win."

Whittaker's recently faced the same decision and decided to increase the price of their chocolate blocks rather than reduce the size.

"I think Whittaker's have made better decisions than Cadbury for at least a decade," said Wilcox. "They're a really good example of how to do things right."

Read Stuff article: Former Cadbury ad man slams downsizing decision

Read NZ Herald article: Rivals pitch size v price in battle for Kiwi sweet tooth