Which changes in a product you’d liked have been the worst?

[Horsehow]

Just bought some Huggies wet wipes for the first time in a while. I use them to take makeup off, and they are the only wet wipe that are really effective. They’re thick and somehow really remove the dirt well. But they’ve changed and are now utterly, utterly shite. They’re thin and remove nothing. Why oh why do they do this? Do they not test the product in manufacturing and think ‘this is obviously a shit move’? So frustrating.

See also Ribena. Used to be a great occasional drink to soothe a sore throat, now it tastes of nothing but chemicals. Why do that?

Surely no one will buy the new Huggies Wet wipes? Surely only 10% of the old Ribena buyers still buy. What is the sense in this commercially?

Krackawheat. Our go to cracker has morphed into tasteless cardboard.
I just buy own brand normal crackers now. Sigh

So I can’t drink anything fizzy apart from full fat coke now, because the artificial sweeteners (especially aspartame) give me migraines that will literally make me throw up.
I hate the new “honey puffs” they’re vile (bought as a weekend treat for the kids, thought I’d have some for supper…blergh)
Walkers crisps flavours used to be super strong, now they’re like pale imitations of themselves!
Capri sun no longer takes of orange and pineapple juice, now it’s more like a very very weak squash.

Plus still has palm oil in which ruins the taste.

Stupid digital buttons on washing machines and tumble driers. I have to stab away at them until I almost lose the will to live before they respond. What's wrong with actual buttons that you push? Or dials that you turn?

Bring some back for us!!

I have a friend in the States who still loves our Cadbury chocolate. I am about to send some over to her. Quite strange really as they are now owned by Mondelez International who have their headquarters in Chicago......

San pelegrino, fizzy fruit drinks since they put is sweeteners. M&S prawn shells.

Marmite. I panic bought during the pandemic (I know, I know, but I refused to risk running out!) and a year later when I finally got through the massive amount of jars I had bought at the start of the chaos,
I noticed that the new stuff was paler,
more brown than black, and thinner and weaker tasting too. Gutted does not begin to describe it. I’m just hoping they bring out an ‘original’ version soon!

what annoys me though is that the big companies have decided for us that we only want cheap products.

I would love to see them bring back the old style products, even at the price they would be today to run side by side the cheap ones and see which ones people pick.

I know I would much rather have occasional lovely expensive chocolate than regular nasty cheap stuff that we have today and I don’t think I’m the only one.

Exactly this. I'd pay considerably more for authentic original Dairy Milk. I don't even eat Cadbury's chocolate anymore. It's just not a pleasant experience.

Cadburys everything. It's gross now

My Mum has been quite unwell recently, and is currently staying with us as she recuperates from a few weeks in hospital.

Unfortunately, she picked up a cold in her first week with us. One of her favourite drinks to have is/was hot Ribena. We have talked about the fact it is ‘a hug in a mug’, and it works wonders at giving you a little ‘pick up’ when you are under the weather 😊.

You might want to try Whittakers chocolate. NZ staple like Cadbury and bloody delicious! Not a bit of palm oil in sight.

Rubbish. 30 years ago you could buy a huge selection of chocolate bars easily and they were eaten frequently. As a teen in college at the time we all used to buy a kit kat or something with our lunch.

Nutella chocolate spread. Nowadays the flavour is sweeter and less chocolatey.

Creme Eggs since they changed the chocolate

Yeah l agree.

40 years ago as a student, l lived on fresh air and chocolate. We used to hire a video and gorge in a stash.

Life was never about one square every so often.

Try Rocks blackcurrant squash - it's a good alternative to Ribena and doesnt have sweeteners. I tried it after it was mentioned on a mn thread ages ago and found it quite similar to old Ribena.

Sorry to quote you again @ThisAmberOrca but as you see to be defending the product reformulation departments I am intrigued by the fact you said
‘and it doesn’t really get better or worse - just different’
you must realise it does get worse as it’s quite a well known fact that palm oil has spoilt most if the products that have been mentioned on this thread. Palm oil seems to make everything worse doesn’t it?

Also, I don’t think chocolate of yesteryear would have been classed as a UPF, it’s only what the (bored?) product reformulation departments (who appear to have absolutely no taste buds or morals) have added to it that has caused them to be classed as one now. .

I agree about San Pellegrino, plus any fizzy drink that is now full of sweeteners, they all leave an awful aftertaste. Used to love SP, also Sprite, 7up etc, all horrible since they've reduced the sugar and added sweeteners. Same with Heinz tomato soup, absolutely vile now they've added sweeteners, it is really sickly sweet and nothing like it used to be. (Yet still really expensive for a tin of soup)

Come to our house.

I think the same thing that happened to quorn they used to have some dairy in them then all the vegans came along and they re did the recipe for a wider group.

It does seem to be taking out real substances and replacing them with chemically formed ones and palm oil. It's why everything we used to call a "treat" ends up tasting the same and burns your tongue now if you have more than 1. Maybe it's like Pavlov's dog where you get reconditioned by the bad taste and painful sweetners not to crave nice things?

@ThisAmberOrca - DH and I both ate loads of sweets and chocolate as children 60 years ago. I remember going to the shop across the road, as a five year old and buying a Mars bar with my pocket money. We certainly didn’t eat the odd square as a rare treat! We didn’t regard it as expensive and we come from ordinary families, not the well off!

For me, ruined:

1. Black Magic - they took out the lemon one, the nut ones and replaced them with horrible truffle types. Nice British chocolate box was turned into a Continental box of truffles, which I never bought before!
2. Ribena as per pp
3. San Pellegrino - I don’t like the bitter aftertaste of sweeteners
4. Cadburys chocolate - Curly Wurlies are like a miniature of their original selves
5. All other soft drinks, which now have artificial sweeteners, but didn’t used to

We don’t eat UPFs at home much; but for a treat we have to drink full fat Coke or expensive cordials in dark green bottles (Belvoir or Bottle Green?). We buy chocolate from either Aldi or Lidl with no palm oil, and which still has proper cocoa butter.

I haven’t had Twiglets recently, but I’ll have to try those - they are one of my favourites!

I’d much prefer to pay more for things as they used to be, than inedible rubbish now!

@fiorentinatry the Cauldron sosigs again - they changed the formula to vegan and they were awful, they’ve now changed back due to consumer pressure. The only veggie sos my kids would eat.