In Meria’s excellent post below, Chris Matchibellicraft tried to diss Cadbury Creme Eggs. A quick scolding brought that to an end. I did a little investigating and – of course – there’s a Wikipedia entry for “Cadbury Creme Eggs.” And here, I’ve unveiled a conspiracy theory. From Wikipedia:

One Creme Egg weighs 1.4 oz (40 g) and contains 171.6 Calories.[2] While many people feel that the size has diminished since its introduction in 1971, Cadbury maintains “It hasn’t—you’ve just grown up!” [3] However, 1.2 oz (34 g) eggs – made in England but licensed to The Hershey Company – are now appearing on shelves in the United States. That means the original weight of 1.4 oz (40 g) has been reduced by two tenths of an ounce, or six grams. That is a 15% reduction. [4]

So Cadbury is shrinking our little delicious treats of cocaine-strength sugar and denying it. It took an actor from “The Office” to expose this. Again, from Wikipedia:

Cadbury’s claim denying the reduction in size of the candy egg was refuted by actor B. J. Novak most notably of NBC’s comedy,The Office. In a televised interview on a April 5th, 2007 episode of Late Night with Conan O’ Brien… B.J. searched his house for an unopened prior year’s Cadbury Creme Egg. After mentioning this plan, B.J. pulled from his pocket a 2007 Cadbury Cream Egg and a Cadbury Creme Egg claimed to be from two years prior. The camera zoomed in on the two eggs for comparison purposes, and a visible size difference was revealed, with the prior year’s egg noticeably larger. (Pictured: Cadbury Creme Egg from 2005 on left, one from 2007 on right.)

You can watch the segment here:

UPDATE: Honest to God – while I was writing this entry, Kate posted the ad below for the Creme Eggs. (Look at the timestamps.) Obviously, we’ve touched a nerve.