Cadbury’s goes from hero to zero
Cadbury could expect a public backlash following confirmation its Dunedin factory will close next year.
American food giant Mondelez International broke the news to the factory’s 350 staff on Thursday morning.
Dr David Bishop, from the University of Otago business school, worked for the company between 1973 and 1986 and said he wasn’t surprised by the news.
When Cadbury was taken over by Kraft Foods (now Mondelez) in 2010, the company moved quickly to close a British factory and shift production to Poland.
‘‘So I am surprised that it took seven years to close Dunedin.’’
The company could expect a consumer backlash initially, but ‘‘in the long run, people seem to keep buying the products that they like’’.
That backlash might be stronger in New Zealand given the chocolate maker’s actions over the past 10 years.
The use of palm oil as a substitute for cocoa butter damaged the brand, and the company dropped the ingredient in 2009 due to public pressure.
Up until then the Cadbury brand had been one of the most trusted in New Zealand, Bishop said.
It was Kiwis’ most trusted brand for seven years in a row in the Reader’s Digest survey, until the palm oil scandal broke. It quickly dropped out of the top 30 most trusted in the country, and ‘‘now this, what are they thinking?’’
The Dunedin announcement had damaged its image, but the real damage had been inflicted by rival chocolate maker Whittaker’s.
‘‘Whittaker’s seem to have taken over the premium position in the New Zealand chocolate market,’’ Bishop said.
‘‘As a relatively small locally owned company they are now producing highquality, world-class chocolate and look to have taken Cadbury’s position in New Zealand.
‘‘While Cadbury seems to have been imploding, Whittaker’s have done extremely well by concentrating on quality products and their New Zealand identity.’’
He questioned why Cadbury would close the Dunedin factory, yet plan to keep Cadbury World. ‘‘Why have a tourist attraction next to a closed-down factory in Dunedin?’’