Brexit Toblerone

Submission 28,799

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

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.

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.

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]

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]