From Christmas spreads to wedding favours and a must-have on Eid tables, what’s an occasion without Quality Street? For many, the iconic purple tin, with its brightly coloured foil-wrapped chocolates, is a sacred symbol marking the arrival of the festive season and for others, represents core childhood memories.
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Quality Street was launched in 1936 and has been a family favourite treat ever since.
This year, however, some fanatics accused Nestlé of ruining Christmas by making not only changing the shape of The Purple One and Orange Crunch chocolates but shrinking them too.
While the Quality Street chocolates maker announced the shape changes in March and received mixed reactions from its consumers, it was not until some keen-eyed UK fans noticed that the two chocolates were also lighter than before that an outcry erupted.
In its former Brazil-nut shape, the unwrapped The Purple One weighed 9.59g. It now weighs 8.46g, reported The Guardian. The unwrapped weight of the new caramel swirl-shaped Orange Crunch initially weighed 9.06g but now weighs 8.72g.
Taking to social media, one fan said:
‘Had some Quality Street last night and noticed the purple ones were now round and felt they were smaller.’
Another said:
‘Half of the appeal of Quality Street is/was the aesthetic. Changing the shape and size of much-loved favourites is sacrilege. I’ve never forgiven Nestlé for changing the diamond of fudge into the most uninteresting shape.’
Despite the slight change in size, Nestlé confirmed that the tub’s net weight remains unchanged.
‘The new-shaped The Purple One and Orange sweets are slightly lighter than the previous-shaped sweets, but the net weight of the tub remains the same,’ a Nestlé spokesperson told the publication.
‘This means people are still getting the same amount of delicious Quality Street product they know and love – just in a slightly different format.’
The discovery that was deemed a disgruntling change comes off the back of Nestlé’s controversial launch of a limited edition paper Quality Street tubs last month that sparked frustration from its consumers. The new packaging was introduced to 60 Tesco supermarkets in the UK as part of a trial to gauge its popularity.
What, in the name of all that is good and holy, have they done to Quality Street? pic.twitter.com/zMwfcXkvxQ
— Anna Sue (@annasuegr) December 16, 2023
In October 2022, the company was once again met with outrage at the announcement that the much-loved foil wrapping would be swapped out with a more understated form of waxed paper, with many chocolate selection box fanatics saying it was ‘cheap-looking and depressing’, reported Mirror UK.
What, in the name of all that is good and holy, have they done to Quality Street? pic.twitter.com/zMwfcXkvxQ
— Anna Sue (@annasuegr) December 16, 2023
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Picture: Quality Street / Facebook
