By Samantha Hayes
Watties is now New Zealand's most trusted brand after Cadbury tumbled from the top spot its held for the last six years.
The chocolate brand didn't just fall a few places - in the poll of New Zealanders taken for Reader's Digest, it plummeted to number 36. Arch-rival Whittaker's makes its debut at number five.
In the chocolate wars, Cadbury said they saw this one coming - and so did Whittaker's.
"Brands change formulation at their peril because they can break the trust of the consumer," says Philip Poole, Whittaker's marketing manager. "We've maintained our high cocoa content and haven't put vegetable fat in our product."
Cadbury admits its actions have damaged the brand's reputation.
In a statement it said: "It's no secret that the past year has been a challenging one. We know that some decisions we made caused us to lose that trust."
The decision to included palm oil in their chocolate has had long-running impacts. While it's now out of chocolate blocks, it's still in the bar supply chain. Cadbury say it'll be gone by Christmas, but it'll take a lot longer than that to restore their customers' trust.
The survey of 500 adults asked which brands out of 133 they trusted most. Watties ranked first, Toyota second.
But the survey, even though it's just been released, was actually done in December last year, before negative publicity in the US about sticking accelerator pedals and dodgy brakes.
"I think Toyota would be very happy with the placement of number two," says psychologist Sara Chatwin.
Ms Chatwin says trust can be managed and manipulated through the media. She's not surprised that Victoria Cross winner Cpl Willie Apiata is our most-trusted Kiwi, or that Prime Minister John Key has slid down the rankings by 17 places to 70.
"Willie Apiata as the war hero with the tousled locks, and he is always portrayed in a very heroic light, whereas you have John Key having to make hard, tough and sometimes unpopular decisions."
Firefighters were the most trusted group of professionals, and politicians were the least trusted, with Hone Harawira and Sir Roger Douglas at the rear of the field.
3 News