Brexit Toblerone

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Part of a series on United Kingdom Withdrawal From the European Union / Brexit. [View Related Entries]

Daren M @dmpillay08 Follow THEY CHANGED THE TOBLERONES Thanks, Brexit. Now look at what's happened. #WeWantOurTobleroneBack #Toblerone #brexit #why RETWEET LIKES 2 2:47 PM - 8 Nov 2016 27 1 2

Sharon Norman @sharonnorman 19 Follow Erm excuse me mr toblerone, where are all my triangles!! Just unwrapped a chocolate bar of DISSAPOINTMENT#toblerone oke #dissapointing 11:31 AM- 29 Oct 2016 다 33 29

Faisal Islam @faisalislam 으 Follow Toblerone cut its 170g bars to 150g and its 400g bars to 360g only in UK after post Brexit £ slide forced up costs TOBL RETWEETS LIKES 1,250 922 O.AAE, 劃 4:31 AM-8 Nov 2016 £71.2K 922

John Prescott @johnprescott な Follow Brexit just got real. Via @markcgreenwood拱oblerone BEFORE BREMIT TOB AFTER BREXIT RETWEETS LIKES 2,180 , 1,844 。鼩鞏 4:17 AM-8 Nov 2016

Toblerone November 8 at 4:12pm We appreciate the passion of the Toblerone fans around the world Due to rising costs in making our chocolate, we recently announced a weight reduction in two Toblerone bars. The 400g bar was reduced to 360g and the 170g bar, sold in the UK only, is now 150g. Our other bars remain unchanged. We will never compromise on taste nor our hasn't changed

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Overview

Brexit Toblerone refers to an online backlash to the updated form of reduced-weight Toblerone chocolate bars, which some speculated were the result of surges in chocolate ingredient prices due to the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union referendum.

Background

On October 15th, 2016, the Toblerone Facebook^[4] page posted an announcement that they would be reducing the weight of two of their chocolate bars sold in the UK due to "higher costs for numerous ingredients" (shown below). Within one month, the post received more than 1,100 comments 1,000 reaction and 290 shares.

Toblerone October 15 at 7:13am Toblerone fans, we have some information on the size of our UK chocolate bars. Please see the following statement: Toblerone remains one of the best value and most delicious Swiss chocolate products in the market. This is because we always work hard to ensure we offer value for money for our consumers, but like many other companies, we are experiencing higher costs for numerous ingredients We carry these costs for as long as possible, but to ensure Toblerone remains on-shelf, is affordable and retains the triangular shape, we have had to reduce the weight of just two of our bars in the UK, from the wider range of available Toblerone products

Developments

Online Reaction

On October 29th, 2016, Twitter user Sharon Norman^[8] posted a photograph of the new Toblerone shape along with the hashtags "#joke" and "#dissapointing" (shown below, left).^[8] On November 8th, Twitter user James Melville^[1] tweeted a photograph of the new Toblerone shape, comparing it to a "bicycle stand" and using the hashtag "#WeWantOurTobleroneBack"^[6] (shown below, right). Within 48 hours, the tweet gathered upwards of 1,700 likes and 1,100 retweets.

James Melville @JamesMelville な 요. Follow The new #loblerone. Wrong on so many levels. It now looks like a bicycle stand #WeWantOurTobleroneBack. RETWEETS LIKES 1,189 1,753 2:07 AM-8 Nov 2016 t3 1.2K 1.8K

That day, other Twitter users began expressing disappointment with the chocolate bar's update form factor, with some speculating it was the result of the Brexit referendum (shown below). Meanwhile, Redditor TOOSG submitted a post about the online reaction to the chocolate bar shape to /r/BritishSuccess,^[5] where it received more than 8,300 votes (84% upvoted) and 350 comments in 48 hours.

Toblerone's Response

On November 8th, Toblerone post a message on their official Facebook^[2] page, claiming that the rises in the cost of ingredients forced the company to reduce their 400g chocolate bars down to 360g and their 170g bar to 150g. Within 48 hours, the post received more than 2,400 reactions, 1,000 comments and 300 shares.

That day, the BBC published an article about the new chocolate bars, which included a statement from a spokesperson for the chocolate bar company claimingthe change "wasn't done as a result of Brexit." The following day, the company posted a photo to Facebook^[3] showing what the new chocolate bar looks like, garnering upwards of 600 reactions and 120 comments over the next 24 hours (shown below).^[3]

Toblerone 9 hrs You may have seen the photos of our UK only 150g chocolate bar. However, we wanted to help clear up what the rest of our UK chocolate bar range looks like. There has been no compromise on taste, our famous Swiss quality or our Toblerone recipe TOBLERONE TOBLERONE 360g 00g

News Media Coverage

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the online backlash to the chocolate bar shape, including The Telegraph,^[9] BBC^[7] and The Verge.^[10]