Here in Belgium, a marketing disaster took place that caused people to grab their metaphorical pitchforks in what was basically a repeat of the New Coke fiasco. New Choc you could even say (which no one does).
At the center of our drama is Chocovit, a beloved local brand mostly known for selling chocolate milk beside other flavored dairy products. At some point last year they announced that they were retiring their classic, iconic glass bottles for a new plastic design, supposedly to make their production more sustainable.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Belgium2/s/N1938FtemB
Chaos erupted. Here on Reddit a post went viral, declaring the end of Chocovit. But the drama even extended to Facebook, where the brand's most recent posts were flooded with hate comments. The poor social media team tried to quell the anger at first, but soon they would literally shut down all professional social media communication for months on end.
The social media reps claimed the recipe hadn't changed, yet anyone who drank it said otherwise. After some time, they backtracked and claimed they would bring the old recipe back but keep the new packaging. A slight improvement perhaps, but an even bigger slap in the face of the cult following the brand had amassed.
Eventually, Chocovit relented and announced two months ago that the glass bottle would be coming back (with an AI generated video no less, that social media team must have really gotten eviscerated in the aftermath). Since then, glass bottles have been slowly returning to store shelves, and peace has returned to the land. All other varieties of Chocovit are still sold in the revamped plastic packaging, as a look at their website will quickly show.
Guess it goes to show how serious Belgians can get when it comes to matters of chocolate.
What's been happening in your country that's been a welcome distraction from the gloom currently surrounding us all?