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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
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FACT BRIEF

Did Kit Kat release a diagonally cut, 'not straight' candy bar to celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month?

By Christiana Dillard
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NO

The manufacturers of Kit Kat candy bars (the Hershey Company in the U.S. and Nestlé around the world) told Lead Stories they have no record of such a product.

A social media post that appeared in 2020 and reappeared in May 2021 with a photo showing diagonal lines on a chocolate bar carried text saying the candy was produced for Pride Month with "no straight lines."

A spokesperson for Hershey said, "This product is not something that we launched or is available in the U.S." A spokesperson for Nestlé S.A. said he could find no record of such a product on his company's site.

The post also claimed Hershey invented chocolate. Chocolate has been consumed for thousands of years. Creation of the first mass-produced chocolate bar is attributed to Joseph Fry, in 1847.

And diagonal lines are in fact straight lines.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Library of Congress Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month
Smithsonian A Brief History of Chocolate
Bristol City Council Museum Collections
Vocabulary.com Definition of 'diagonal'
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.