News Brief: Chocolate Conspiracy

June 15, 2010 at 8:22 am Leave a comment

Are you still getting change back for your dollar when you buy a candy bar? Or are you breaking a second bill? How much do those bars cost, anyway?

If you’re buying candy in Canada, the answer seems to be “too much.” The Canadian Competition Board has alleged a conspiracy among major candy manufacturers to inflate prices between 2001 and 2008. A class action lawsuit in the name of a decade’s worth of  candy eating seeks to recover millions in damages. Named companies include Nestle Canada, Hershey Canada, Mars Canada, and Cadbury Adams Canada.

The suit was originally filed in 2008. On Friday (June 8), the Supreme Court of British Columbia approved a partial settlement.  Cadbury agreed to pay nearly $6 million in damages in exchange for ratting out providing information about the other companies.

This testimony promises to be very interesting. I’ve always wondered why every candy bar and pouch and roll cost exactly the same.  According to an article by Jon Hood at ConsumerAffairs.com:

The suit portrays the defendants as dark underlords of the candy world, alleging that representatives from each company secretly met to discuss the conspiracy, and that the companies withheld their products from stores that sold candy at lower-than-recommended prices.

Of course, the likelihood that this suit will result in any return to the aggrieved candy buying public is approximately zero. Maybe instead of refunding pennies per customer, the big chocolates should declare one day a year to be “free candy day.” A fitting penance, if these rotten allegations should prove true.
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Entry filed under: News Briefs. Tags: , , .

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