Only Smarties Have the Answer

[John Self]

I know we are used to discussing frivolous topics on this forum like the Iraq War and assisted suicide, so apologies for bringing to the table a serious and weighty issue.

Nestlé, who own Rowntrees, have declared that they will be changing the packaging of Smarties sweets later this year. The new tube will be hexagonal and will no longer have a loose plastic lid with a random letter on the reverse that you can 'pop' across the room by karate-chopping the empty tube.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40841000/jpg/_40841603_smarties203-long.jpg

The BBC News site has had a forum for people to discuss this latest in tampering with our childhood memories, after Marathon became Snickers, paper-and-foil disappeared from Kit Kats, and of course Coke cans stopped having ring pulls you could actually remove (the notched ones could be broken in two to make a fabulous flying disc weapon). Some of their correspondents could possibly be said to have too little to think about, while others, we hope, are not being serious...

This is a disgrace! I suggest we organise an immediate boycott of all Nestle products.
Richard, UK

This is a disaster. Traditional Smartie tubes are a wonderful charity fund-raising aid. We have used the Smartie-tube challenge to raise thousands of pounds in our local community. You give people a free tube of Smarties, which are theirs to eat, but ask them to return the tubes full of 20p pieces. This is an effective and easy way of raising money for charity. Shame on you Nestle Rowntree for removing this opportunity.
David, UK

The packaging is the most important part - its a British tradition!!
Michael Burman, Spain (sic)

It's disgraceful. It's about time that the government introduced some form of protection for things like this, like we have for listed buildings. Smarties tubes are a small but lovable part of our culture and they need to be protected!
Dom Sparks, UK

I learnt to read using the Smarties lid tops! This is an outrage.
Johanne, UK

Is Nestle mad?!!! Getting rid of the Smarties tube would be like changing the Union Flag or flag of Switzerland. It is part of our culture.
Simon, UK

Quite simply the worst catastrophe to befall modern man. Don't do it, Smarties!!
Helen, UK

If you hold smarties in you hand for too long, they sweat and the colour bleeds. I cannot comment on the demise of the tube as this is way too upsetting to even think about let alone speak of right now.
Lyndsey Ash, Oxfordshire, England

This is typical of so-called Blair's Britain.
Judy, Wentworth

With everything that's going on in this world at the moment this is just another sickening blow to worldwide moral.
Big Al, UK

What can i say.. a sad day for the UK
alexis, uk

I've rarely been more angry about anything in my life.
Daniel, England

This is clearly the end of civilization as we know it.
Arcane Thrust, UK

And I only made one of these up (and it wasn't the last one).

[Colyngbourne]

Well, I do think it's a miserably useless 'modernisation' for the sake of it - the new packaging would appear to be more complicated and expensive to produce. The 'cool' new package won't convince teenagers that Smarties are cool if the sweeties inside are still bold primary toddler-type colours. The fundraising thing is very true as well. And the plastic letter lids. :cry:

[ono no komachi]

This was my favourite:

Is nothing sacred? I cannot believe we are going to lose the sound of the Smarties slithering down the tube.
Stephen Whitmore, England

How does that work, then? Are Nestlé going to abolish gravity, as well?

[Colyngbourne]

:D I guess they won't slither so well because of the interior angles. And the lid/opening won't be the same. There was some idea about 'mums' being able to limit how many fell out with the new package ( and thus denying their toddlers ), rather than the whoosh-and-a-handful delights of the old design!

[Jerkass]

yet another example of the creeping Swissification of the entire world

[kumquat]

creepy, this was discussion at work today. i was a sourpuss and asked them if they'd noticed that hunting had been banned.

and was there this bruhaha (sp?) over mini smarties and the limited edition smarties in round boxes. which now serve me as handy tubs for holding drawing pins.

[madfrank]

Theres an online petition and protest site been set up here

http://www.savesmartiestubes.com

Help save the tubes and spread the word!

[Wavid]

Hello and welcome, madfrank!

[Lucoid]

Does anyone know if the Nestle boycott is still going? The one that started years ago over giving free formula to the developing world then withdrawing once they'd become reliant on it?

(I am very worried about the more serious issue of hexagonal tubes, by the way, but have been wondering about the above for some time now.)

[Digger]

Its a crying shame to lose the tubes, and the lids, and the orange ones, and the slithery tube noise, and the pooping them at your simblings, and the leaving them under cusions to get all sticky and leave blue smudges (when they brought the blue ones out). :(

Oh, and is there anyone else who agrees with me that the orange ones taste of orange chocolate? This was the subject of almost endless schoolyard debates and blind taste-tests in the playground.

Lucoid, I am definitely still boycotting Nestle, apart from the occasional tube of Smarties!

[Colyngbourne]

The orange Smarties are the only ones that differ, and are orange-flavoured. But not in the States apparently.

I haven't seen a hexagonal tube yet - we got cylinders with our Smarties Easter eggs.

[bakunin_the_cat]

A lot of people (including myself) are still boycotting Nestle. Not only because of the baby-milk thing but also because of their complete refusal to even contemplate fair trade, despite being in an ideal position to do so. Unfortunately unless the boycott gets far more mainstream support and profits are threatened it's unlikely to achieve very much . All you can do is try and spread the word.

[Digger]

I agree, when I left Uni (both times) the student unions were boycotting Nestle, that was Durham and York, the second of my sisters is at Norwich and their union does too. the other problem is of course the appeal of chocolate to the masses...

Mind you, being strictly a Green and Blacks girl, the temptatation is not hard to resist.

(Mmmmm Green and Blacks.... Maya gold..... droollll....)

[Lucoid]

Green & Blacks made me like dark chocolate. Probably quite an achievement.

And as for the Nestle boycott, I'll keep steering the boyf away from the KitKats. Tesco do quite an adequate imitation anyway (though of course that's not Fair Trade either).

[m.]

What's Green & Blacks? If that's something combining mint and dark chocolate, thanks no. I know it's a classic combination but for me completely unappealing. OTH dark chocolate rules, of more universally known brands that'd be Lindt , but in truth I prefer local brands...

[Digger]

green and blacks is fair trade chocolate, milk dark and white varietys exist...

my favourites include Maya Gold with spices and some orange, coffee with bits of crushed coffee bean, currant and hazlenut, bits of dried cherry (amazing) oh and just the regular dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, bitter sweet, endlessly moreish.. and this is coming from someone with a near non-existant sweet tooth. I think the milk choc varieties have caramelly ones and an almond one but I'm not sure.

If you're in the UK m., most supermarkets will have it, search it out... I could be a product endorser for this stuff!

[Colyngbourne]

I'll second or third Green & Black (http://www.greenandblacks.com/) - their 70% made me a convert to dark chocolate.

[Jerkass]

my favourites include Maya Gold with spices and some orange, coffee with bits of crushed coffee bean, currant and hazlenut, bits of dried cherry

"You British people do such...such...exciting things...with chocolate," he breathed in what he hoped was a sexy manner.

[Jerkass]

Amner--do they carry this stuff in the Co-op?

[Colyngbourne]

I don't think they do, because they promote their own Fair Trade chocolate in the Co-op (alongside the usual Galaxy/Cadbury etc.) You can get it in larger supermarkets or delis.

[amner]

Don't worry mate, Shaun's Newsagent will have some.

[bakunin_the_cat]

And if they have Oxfam shops out in the wilds with the wee Fenfolk, you can normally get it there. They also have other Fair Trade brands which are nice too but for pure moorish mmmmMmmMMmmMm you've gotta have Maya Gold.

[Digger]

"You British people do such...such...exciting things...with chocolate," he breathed in what he hoped was a sexy manner.

Grrrrr! :wink: absolutely!!

[amner]

Jerkass, checked Shaun's and they all manner of confectionary delight. You should be able to stock up big stylee when you're over in a couple of weeks.

[Jerkass]

right, Amner, I've just realised our error

Amner and I popped into the Co-op...rather than the newsagents he had scouted out...and I was disappointed to find only the 70%.

Not that the 70% is disappointing in itself...ohhhhhhhh no, it's just lovely.

Managed to track down the Maya Gold elsewhere, but that's it. I remain intrigued by the one with coffee bits, the currant & hazelnut, and the dried cherry (were those all separate types of bars, Digger?).

[rick green]

I know these kinds of gourmet, organic, fair-trade chocolates are available in the U.S. I enjoyed them at my college in the Pacific Northwest. Of course that region in general, and my college in particular (no grades) is usually in the vanguard of such things. I have yet to see these fine products in Florida.

[amner]

Amner and I popped into the Co-op...rather than the newsagents he had scouted out...and I was disappointed to find only the 70%.

Schoolboy error :oops:

I don't know what to say.

[Digger]

Oh yes, all different types of Bars Jerkass, and, they've just brought out another dark choc type with bits of caramelised almond.... oh droolworthy inventors that they are.

(Homeresque Mmmmm noise) :P

[Colyngbourne]

Just seen the new lesser-spotted hexagonal Smarties for the first time and it is evil and horrid :cry: It doesn't even have a plastic lid but a useless hexagonal flap of cardboard.

[Stewart]

paper-and-foil disappeared from Kit Kats

You are joking! When? :-x

[Digger]

Where have you been blixa?! That was a loooong time ago now.

[Colyngbourne]

But when I buy a multi-pack of KitKats, they still are the foil and paper sort.

[Digger]

Ooh, I'll have to find some, don't even particularly like kit-kats, but I like the whole foil scoring, snapping bit! Mind you, last time I was in Sainsburys they had plain chocolate kit-kats, now those I could learn to like!

[Colyngbourne]

Mint chocolate Kit-Kats are also rather good. (Again in packs of eight or nine.)

[Wavid]

I liked those orange ones they did a while back. Mmmmmm.

[Stewart]

I had the caramel one on a whim; it was nice. I've not had the bog standard KitKat for years on account of them being centre-deficient.

Now, Rolos, there's a chocolate that can't be accused of centre-deficiency. Toffee as standard or, as has been seen this year, orange toffee, caramel and cream, and Irish cream varieties. Excellent!

[NottyImp]

I've not had the bog standard KitKat for years on account of them being centre-deficient.


You think? The Caramac ones are genuinely horrible.

[Stewart]

Oh, I remember that one. I liked it.