The sweet taste of recession

Cadbury is one of the few companies sitting pretty in the current economic climate, benefiting as it does from the theory of 'choconomics' – basically, that our appetite for sugary treats seems to increase as the nation’s economy slips ever nearer to recession. Consumer experts think that sweet sales rise as spending on pricier luxuries like meals out declines, but we’re not so sure. An extra bar of chocolate here and there when times are hard is comfort eating, pure and simple. People could just as easily munch on an apple or nibble a raw carrot after all, but it simply doesn’t seem to have the same appeal. Just as well for our sweet manufacturers, really. So enamoured is Cadbury's with the idea that senior executives at the choc company have coined a new phrase for the financial crisis. They're calling it the 'credit crunchie'.