Tony’s chocolonely egg is not an egg

[GHSP]

Aibu to feel ripped off. Square box makes you think you have a normal egg. Actually you have a flat egg. An ellipse. A squished egg. All the pictures are face on so you don’t get to see the profile from the side, which would show it’s not a proper egg.

Kids asked why they didn’t get proper eggs.

Eggs are a symbol of renewal / of rebirth. Thats the connotation behind eggs and chicks!

I tried the dark almond one for the first time ever after reading about slavery in cacao growing and was agreeably surprised.

It is still egg shaped. Just an egg that's been in the nest a while.

I was very pleased with mine, so nice to get an egg that isn't just completely plain chocolate (eg all Cadbury ones are Dairy Milk and the flavours are only in the bars you get with it).

I really don't understand what people mean by "it's not egg-shaped". I may be really thick but it still looks like an egg to me and it's not just a flat slab, but is hollow inside like many other Easter eggs 🤷‍♀️I don't understand this thread.

My kid would never think "this is not a proper Easter egg".

I got a Guylian shells egg, but haven't opened it yet. It is now very much on my mind...

Yes. Greenwashing.

I've always found the whole Chocolonely thing has a total emperors new clothes feel to me. The packaging looks cheap, it tastes nasty, the name is naff and I find the company and its morals questionable.

That looks fine to me. You're not being ripped off because the amount of chocolate that goes into making the egg will be specified on the packaging in the form of weight. It's still a hollow egg shape and you aren't getting less chocolate. If it was a more rounded egg, the chocolate would simply be a lot thinner.

All Easter eggs are pricey in comparison to an ordinary bar of chocolate, and that's only partly because they're aware people feel obliged to buy them (although of course that's one factor). The manufacturing and packaging of an Easter egg are a lot more complicated than the manufacturing and packing of the same amount of chocolate in bar form, and because they only make them once a year it's a smaller production run so there's not quite the same economy of scale. So they are relatively expensive to produce (in addition to having people over a barrel with regards to the seasonal expectation that you'll buy them).

Either way - this egg is no more of a rip-off than any other.

@KreedKafer You are right that easter eggs are more expensive than just a bar of chocolate. People buy them for the shape. This easter egg is not the usual shape. If the company thought nobody would care why does not the packaging not make it clear that it is not the usual egg shape? They do not because they know people would care and noy buy it.

This is the thing that pisses me off most about the name. It sounds pathetic and a bit victim-y

I liken it to reading this type of clap trap on an Internet dating profile and it being an instant turn off.

Just had a look at the eggs online, and I'd have expected them to be egg shaped, too.

Didn’t they stop using the fair trade icon for some reason? Anyhoo… I thought they might have toned down the preachiness when they did a campaign of wrapping the bars in a plain white wrapper with ‘discussion points’ on them. I remember there was a huge temp POP display in Waitrose and noone was buying them (they really reminded me of old supermarket own brand foods when they started doing this).

Is it not the same amount of chocolate but less air? Geometry was never my strong point.

I’m not keen on the chocolate or the shapes in the bar. Yes it shows the difference in fairness but it also adds a further level of difficulty for some consumers who have a disability I don’t buy it as I have cerebral palsy. My right (bad) hand can’t grip the bar for left to break it. Most bars aren’t as hard and my left hand can grip and break off pieces. I hate asking for help for basic stuff, it should not feel bad but it does.

I agree with the ethics though so a tough one. I need to do a search for other ethical brands and any reason fair trade isn’t sufficient.

We haven't purchased that brand since the 'empty door on the advent calendar to teach kids a lesson' debacle. Overrated anyway. Just because Waitrose stocks it, doesn't make it a good thing.

The thing is, if they actually wanted to reduce the environmental impact of the transportation of the product, they’d have made the packaging smaller.

But then the sales would reduce as people would choose not to buy something that isn’t an egg.

Tony’s isn’t alone among Easter Egg manufacturers in selling a whole lot of fresh air in the cardboard boxes which package the chocolate, but it is quite a lot of cheek to pack a flat Easter Egg in a box which would house a regular egg.

I stopped buying Chocolonely stuff as gifts when the year before last they chose to leave one for of the advent calendar empty to make some sort of ethical point about people who are less fortunate. Sorry but an advent calendar isn't the place for this. I was very pissed off as felt my treat was not a treat, albeit that I had bought the calendar for an adult,l. There were lots of complaints though of upset children including children with SEND who obviously couldn't understand and were just very disappointed when they was nothing behind a door. They apologised but I won't buy anything from them as a gift any more. Also agree about the annoying unbreakable chocolate.

Are they real? That's hilarious!!! 😂😂😂

YABU for buying Tony’s overpriced, underwhelming chocolate.

YANBU for feeling misled. But I’m not surprised that this style of hippie company would do something so daft!

Tony’s is amazing chocolate. Sorry that a grownup can’t deal with their chocolate egg being a slightly different shape, or that the bars break into unusual shapes. Thoughts and prayers.

Oh that looks ridiculous. What is wrong with Tony's. Why can't they understand why someone buys chocolate, an egg, an advent calendar?

People don't want to have to fight with a chocolate bar to eat it, they want eggs that look like eggs, and they don't want a lesson in ethics when opening an advent calendar!

Their chocolate is nice but they don't seem to understand what customers want. Their chocolate is expensive. You want it to be easy to eat, and to be able to enjoy it as a treat, a bit of a luxury. And Easter eggs need to look like eggs or there is no point to them. You might as well save you money and buy a chocolate bar.

The unequal pieces is simply dumb. All it does is cause difficulty in eating the thing and irritates the customer, not once does it make anyone consider inequality of those making the chocolate.

NEWSFLASH, TONY’S - I’m still going to eat the whole fucking bar! I’m not experiencing inequality because of your rogue segments, I’m just annoyed!

The Cadbury fruit & nut had it in the actual egg which was delicious, and a bag of plain chocs.

Horrid, cheap-tasting chocolate. Would never buy again.

It’s not greenwashing. Ivory Coast and Ghana hugely rely on the cocoa market for their economies. Companies should work to improve conditions, not just source from somewhere easier. And for any large company, there isn’t really anywhere that can be sourced from that won’t have some issues. The global pricing market for cocoa is skewed and so all families in cocoa farming are at risk. Tony’s is more expensive than standard brands, because they pay a premium on top of the Fairtrade premium, so that farmers in their supply chain can make a living income. If farmers earn enough for their families, this means kids are more likely to go to school than help with farming during school hours.

There’s a lot to read about all of this online, which would show that it isn’t greenwashing. Sadly, much of Cadbury’s (as with other major choc companies, but the owner of Cadburys is among the worst of the big sadly) spiels about being ethical are more greenwashing.

info here https://www.unseenuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Chocolate-Scorecard-2023.pdf

overall, trying to get ethical chocolate is a really really complex issue, and currently barely achievable at scale, but the solution is absolutely not just to exit the cocoa markets or say Ghana, Ivory Coast or Brazil. It’s for governments and companies to do what is needed to improve conditions, which ranges from issues like pricing by the companies, land rights, education access, and more