Toblerone chocolate will no longer
feature the distinctive Matterhorn mountain peak on its packaging in order to
avoid violating a Swiss law that protects national symbols, as the brand’s
owner shifts some production out of Switzerland.
اضافة اعلان
Mondelez International, the US maker of
Toblerone, said in a statement that it had to adapt its packaging to comply
with Swiss law, and that it was making changes to its production to meet
increased demand. The company will use a new mountain logo that retains a
“geometric and triangular aesthetic”, a spokesperson said, adding that
Toblerone bars will continue to be produced in Switzerland as well.
The packaging change was reported earlier
by the Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung, which said that Mondelez would begin
some production in Slovakia in July.
“If anyone will use the Matterhorn for whatever, you don’t have any value anymore on Swiss products.”
Under a “Swissness” law, national symbols
can be used to promote chocolate only when the milk it contains is sourced
exclusively from Switzerland, as well as 80 percent of all other raw materials
too. For milk-based products, the processing and manufacturing must also take
place in Switzerland, according to the law — the latest version of which came
into effect in 2017. There are exceptions for products like cacao, which is
grown in humid climates.
Preserving Swiss valueThe Matterhorn, the Alpine peak that is one
of Switzerland’s most famous landmarks, standing at 4,478 meters, has appeared
on Toblerone packaging since 1970, according to Mondelez.
David Stärkle, who oversees the enforcement
of the Swissness legislation for the Swiss government, said that it would be
misleading for Toblerone to continue to include an image of the Matterhorn, a
symbol of Switzerland, on its packaging when some of its production was
happening outside the country.
He said the goal of the law was for
consumers to know that when they purchased Swiss chocolate, the chocolate was,
in fact, from Switzerland. “If anyone will use the Matterhorn for whatever, you
don’t have any value anymore on Swiss products,” Stärkle said.
“Swiss people are a bit angry and say, ‘That’s not my chocolate anymore,’” he said. “We are really keen about Swiss chocolate, and we’re really proud of it.”
In addition to the removal of the
Matterhorn, the wording on Toblerone bars will also have to change. Instead of
“Toblerone of Switzerland”, the packaging will say, “Founded in Switzerland”.
The Toblerone chocolate bar was created in 1908 by Theodor Tobler, whose father
owned a confectionery shop in Bern, Switzerland, in the 1800s.
‘Not my chocolate anymore’Mondelez is betting that the savings it
achieves by moving some production to a country with lower costs will outweigh
any effect the removal of the Matterhorn from packaging will have on demand.
But Stärkle said it could affect the perception of Toblerone chocolate, at
least in Switzerland.
“Swiss people are a bit angry and say,
‘That’s not my chocolate anymore,’” he said. “We are really keen about Swiss
chocolate, and we’re really proud of it.”
Much of the enforcement work of the Swiss
Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, an agency of the federal
administration of Switzerland, focuses on cases in Turkey, India, and the US.
The agency’s work is complicated by variations in laws across countries and
regions — and the fact that it, of course, cannot enforce its rules outside
Switzerland.
For example, last year, to the
disappointment of the Swiss authorities, a US federal judge sided with US
cheese producers and ruled that Gruyère could be produced anywhere, not just in
Switzerland and France. (Under Swiss law, Gruyère must be made in the region
around Gruyères, Switzerland, which has produced the cheese since the 12th
century.) On Friday, the fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision
of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that Gruyère was
a generic term for a variety of cheese.
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