madcomments

No Mars for a veggie…so what?

Posted in General, Marketing, Mel Varley May 17th, 2007 by Melinda Varley

Masterfoods doesn’t seem to care that vegetarians will no longer be able to eat their famous chocolate bars such as Mars, Milky Way and Galaxy, but why?

Well, as the old saying goes, any publicity is good publicity. If you picked up any paper on Monday morning you would’ve been inundated by news of the Vegetarian Society’s startling discovery that Masterfoods uses whey in their chocolate bars now.
 
But Masterfoods seemed quiet surprisingly, unmoved by a call to action that the bars remain suitable for veggies.
 
Masterfoods said in a statement: “The whey we will be using is the same kind of whey which is used in the majority of cheese, which many vegetarians are happy to eat. Therefore all those vegetarians who are content to eat all varieties of cheese can continue to enjoy our products.”

Not a very heart felt statement after considering that there are over three million vegetarians in the UK with the figure increasing every year.

The chocolate market has taken a few blows this year including supermarkets and local grocers being condemned for selling chocolate bars at point-of-sale, Ofcom banning advertising of such ‘junk’ products to children and a salmonella scare from Cadbury’s.

You’d think the last thing that chocolate makers would be looking to do now is alienate a further three million or so consumers.