If you work in the product team of a major department store and attempt to subtly tweak the ingredients in one of your customers' favourite products, be warned: they will notice.
This is a lesson Marks & Spencer has learned the hard way this week, after making some changes to its iconic Percy Pigs. *Gasp*.
Shoppers have hit out at the brand claiming their favourite sweets now have a totally different taste thanks to a recent recipe change.
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The brand recently made their Percy Pigs vegetarian-friendly by removing all gelatin, despite already having a vegetarian version of the sweets - and M&S told Pretty52 the move came following customer demand.
However, some longtime fans of the confectionery are claiming they taste entirely different, with some even saying they taste like chemicals and washing up liquid. Yikes.
One mum, Amy, took to Twitter explaining that she and her children bought a pack of Percy Pigs and disliked the taste so much they didn't even eat them, assuming they were "a bad batch," until it happened again the next time.
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Amy called out the fact M&S hadn't announced their new recipe, calling it "very misleading and disappointing."
Taking to Twitter, Percy lovers expressed their disappointment:
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A spokesperson for Marks and Spencer told Pretty 52: "After a lot of hard work (and tasting) we've finally perfected a 100 per cent vegetarian Percy - something our customers have been asking us for, for a while!
"Rest assured we've tested the new recipe thoroughly to make sure he's as close to the original as possible and we have haven't changed any of the really important things that people love about Percy; the flavour is the same, he still has real fruit juice and never has artificial colours or flavours."
The people have spoken, M&S.
Featured Image Credit: Marks and SpencerTopics: Food, Marks and Spencer, Food And Drink, Percy Pigs
