4 ms·

They would get a lot more ROI by just investing in making products that don’t taste like shit. Note that some of their products have been enshitified so much t

by cmiles8 5mo ago

They would get a lot more ROI by just investing in making products that don’t taste like shit. Note that some of their products have been enshitified so much that they can’t even legally be called chocolate in some jurisdictions. It’s cheap filler designed to simulate chocolate. Agentic AI is not going to solve that.

arealaccount 5mo ago
Not with that attitude
iugtmkbdfil834 5mo ago
Well, F just got a boost for an analyst noticing that have a connection to AI based on their batteries and boom.. AI pivot. All of it makes me super nervous about the market. Zero disagreement on Hershey. It got a lot worse since my childhood days.
- cmiles8 5mo ago
  Yes, it’s a product of the typical game of gradually swapping out expensive ingredients for less expensive ones and hoping folks don’t notice the gradual change. Over time the product ends up being nothing like what it once was.
  - seanhunter 5mo ago
    This is an example of the same sort of phenomenon as shrinkflation, which they seem to have dubbed "skimpflation"[1] in this article although I've never heard that term used before. https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/shrinkflation-the-brands-charging-you-more-for-less-atUkT4m2GjuP https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/shrinkflation-the-brand...
    - cmiles8 5mo ago
      The technical term is “enshitification.” Gradually making a product worse to squeeze out more profit.
seanhunter 5mo ago
That is it. I heard a possible urban legend that the reason Heshey tastes like that is back in the olden times before the internet they also didn't have refrigerated transport for dairy produce so the milk would go slightly sour when it was transported from the farm to the chocolate factory. This led to the "distinctive"/vomit-like taste of their chocolate and they decided to artificially sour the milk to stick with that flavour even after refrigerated dairy trucks were invented (for some reason).
- cmiles8 5mo ago
  The “vomit” flavor in Hershey’s base chocolate (which is quite strong for those with good pallets) is butyric acid which comes from aggressive processing of the milk before it’s put in the chocolate. There’s also very little actual chocolate in the final product (compared to other products) which allows these flavors to come out strong vs the chocolate dominating the pallet. So folks aren’t wrong when they say it tastes like the chocolate is spoiled/off. They’re tasting heavily processed milk.
  - rayiner 5mo ago
    “Processed” is a nonce word. Butyric acid is also in Parmesan cheese, which is “processed.”
    - ebiester 5mo ago
      Parmesan cheese is savory, not sweet. For people who did not grow up with hershey's, the butyric acid is what makes it taste off. This is not a question of safety - it is a question of results. They stayed with old technologies and have optimized for cost, not flavor. (And yes, that processing was necessary in the days before a reliable milk source.)
      - rayiner 5mo ago
        You’re confusing two different things. The “sour taste” objection to Hershey’s chocolate has nothing to do with “cost optimization.” You’re thinking about the 2006 recipe changes, which never applied to Hershey’s solid chocolate bars (and flagship products like peanut butter cups). That sour taste is in Hershey’s original recipe. If you got rid of it, it wouldn’t be Hershey’s chocolate anymore. If you grew up with European chocolate the unfamiliarity maybe makes it taste off. But characterizing it as tasting like “vomit” and the result of over “processing” is spin. Butyric acid arises from processing milk products, which is why the compound is in Hershey’s chocolate and also in parmesan cheese. The opposite marketing spin: “Hershey’s chocolate bars use traditional techniques that result in a hint of parmesan with the sweet” would be equally correct.
1970-01-01 5mo ago
That's specious to state and not at all how marketing works. What if Hershey finds their chocolate is the best thing for specific ailments or an edge case? "Our Kisses are all you need to send in this pandemic" All they need to discover is some edge case and take it to the moon. That's how you move shit product.
dtagames 5mo ago
100%. PGPR is not food and doesn't belong in food!
parpfish 5mo ago
but once you improve the product, you need to tell people that you've improved it.

by cmiles8 5mo ago

arealaccount 5mo ago

Not with that attitude

iugtmkbdfil834 5mo ago

Well, F just got a boost for an analyst noticing that have a connection to AI based on their batteries and boom.. AI pivot. All of it makes me super nervous about the market. Zero disagreement on Hershey. It got a lot worse since my childhood days.

cmiles8 5mo ago
Yes, it’s a product of the typical game of gradually swapping out expensive ingredients for less expensive ones and hoping folks don’t notice the gradual change. Over time the product ends up being nothing like what it once was.
- seanhunter 5mo ago
  This is an example of the same sort of phenomenon as shrinkflation, which they seem to have dubbed "skimpflation"[1] in this article although I've never heard that term used before. https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/shrinkflation-the-brands-charging-you-more-for-less-atUkT4m2GjuP https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/shrinkflation-the-brand...
  - cmiles8 5mo ago
    The technical term is “enshitification.” Gradually making a product worse to squeeze out more profit.

seanhunter 5mo ago

That is it. I heard a possible urban legend that the reason Heshey tastes like that is back in the olden times before the internet they also didn't have refrigerated transport for dairy produce so the milk would go slightly sour when it was transported from the farm to the chocolate factory. This led to the "distinctive"/vomit-like taste of their chocolate and they decided to artificially sour the milk to stick with that flavour even after refrigerated dairy trucks were invented (for some reason).

cmiles8 5mo ago
The “vomit” flavor in Hershey’s base chocolate (which is quite strong for those with good pallets) is butyric acid which comes from aggressive processing of the milk before it’s put in the chocolate. There’s also very little actual chocolate in the final product (compared to other products) which allows these flavors to come out strong vs the chocolate dominating the pallet. So folks aren’t wrong when they say it tastes like the chocolate is spoiled/off. They’re tasting heavily processed milk.
- rayiner 5mo ago
  “Processed” is a nonce word. Butyric acid is also in Parmesan cheese, which is “processed.”
  - ebiester 5mo ago
    Parmesan cheese is savory, not sweet. For people who did not grow up with hershey's, the butyric acid is what makes it taste off. This is not a question of safety - it is a question of results. They stayed with old technologies and have optimized for cost, not flavor. (And yes, that processing was necessary in the days before a reliable milk source.)
    - rayiner 5mo ago
      You’re confusing two different things. The “sour taste” objection to Hershey’s chocolate has nothing to do with “cost optimization.” You’re thinking about the 2006 recipe changes, which never applied to Hershey’s solid chocolate bars (and flagship products like peanut butter cups). That sour taste is in Hershey’s original recipe. If you got rid of it, it wouldn’t be Hershey’s chocolate anymore. If you grew up with European chocolate the unfamiliarity maybe makes it taste off. But characterizing it as tasting like “vomit” and the result of over “processing” is spin. Butyric acid arises from processing milk products, which is why the compound is in Hershey’s chocolate and also in parmesan cheese. The opposite marketing spin: “Hershey’s chocolate bars use traditional techniques that result in a hint of parmesan with the sweet” would be equally correct.

1970-01-01 5mo ago

That's specious to state and not at all how marketing works. What if Hershey finds their chocolate is the best thing for specific ailments or an edge case? "Our Kisses are all you need to send in this pandemic" All they need to discover is some edge case and take it to the moon. That's how you move shit product.

dtagames 5mo ago

100%. PGPR is not food and doesn't belong in food!

parpfish 5mo ago

but once you improve the product, you need to tell people that you've improved it.