Vice Versas are a type of chocolate produced in the UK by Nestlé, similar in composition to Galaxy Minstrels. A Vice Versa can exist in one of two varieties; one consisting of milk chocolate encased in a white coloured sugar coating; the other of white chocolate in a brown coating.
History
Vice Versas were first produced in the UK in 1991, but production was later discontinued. The chocolate sweet was re-launched in 2004, only to be withdrawn once more, roughly a year later. Nestlé offered the following explanatory statement on their website following the second discontinuation of Vice Versa production:
"We are sorry to inform you that the products have been withdrawn from our range due to the high cost of production and the relatively low level of sales. We would like to assure you that the decision to withdraw any product is reached only with great reluctance and we regret any disappointment this product's absence has caused you."[1]
2012 relaunch
There exists a cult following for Vice Versas,[2] and an online petition was drawn up following the second discontinuation of sale. In 2012, citing numerous fan pages and almost 10,000 requests for the product's return on Facebook, Nestlé relaunched Vice Versas in the UK.[3]
1 Brand owned by General Mills; Produced by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Brand owned by Post Foods; Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
