Reese’s heir vs. chocolate skimpflation
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Hershey's is using skimpflation to hide rising costs - the company is substituting real milk chocolate and peanut butter with 'chocolate candy' and 'peanut butter cream' to bypass FDA labeling requirements while maintaining margins.
“They replaced milk chocolate with chocolate candy. And they replaced the peanut butter with peanut butter cream.”
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The Reese's brand was built on specific ingredient standards - founded by a former Hershey dairy farmer, the product's success relied on a unique peanut butter formula and real milk chocolate that defined the brand for a century.
“My grandfather's genius was to perfect the peanut butter. The key has always been the peanut butter.”
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Brand heirs are leveraging public platforms to fight corporate degradation - despite his family selling the company in 1963, Brad Reese is using LinkedIn and open letters to pressure Hershey's into preserving his grandfather's original product identity.
“My grandfather, HB. Reese, who invented Reese's, built Reese's on a simple, enduring architecture. Milk chocolate plus peanut butter.”