“The grandson of HB Reese, the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, has accused the chocolate giant Hershey of faking a pledge to investors to switch back the recipes of its popular products – including KitKat – to the original milk and dark chocolate ones.”

“The company’s chief growth officer, Stacy Taffet, said Hershey was 'transitioning our sweets portfolio to colors from natural sources, and ensuring that all Hershey’s and Reese’s offerings are consistent with their brand’s classic milk and dark chocolate recipes'.”

“Reese accused the company of 'ingredient drift across flagship brands' and described the move 'as a board level accountability problem' that caused shareholders to sell stock.”

“Reese further told the New York Times he is not satisfied and the changes were not coming quickly enough. 'This is just a PR stunt; there’s no victory here,' he said in an interview with outlet.”

“The company has said the changes were already under way but not in response to Reese’s criticism, saying it had previously decided to revert to classic recipes after seeing a 25% increase in research and development to fund talent, technology and nutrition science.”

“Reese said he’d noticed the difference in taste when he tried Reese’s Unwrapped Chocolate Peanut Butter Creme Mini Hearts. 'I opened it up, and I had about two of them, and I had to spit them out,' he said. 'I dumped the entire contents into my kitchen garbage can, and I kept the pouch. I checked it and it wasn’t milk chocolate, it wasn’t real peanut butter. 'I’ve never in my entire life spit out a Reese’s product.'”

“Brad Reese didn’t accept that and accused the company of trying to 'shoot the messenger'. 'Hershey can issue all the statements it wants,' he fumed on LinkedIn. 'They changed the REESE’S product. They got caught. And now they’re trying to manage perception instead of fixing the problem. The evidence chain isn’t going away.'”