Published: Less than 30 min ago
Candy giant Mondelēz is moving the production of Toblerone to Slovakia.
It makes the Swiss see red.
Now they stop the popular chocolate’s logo.
For a long time, the mountain Matterhorn has been the symbol of Toblerone, but now it is over, writes The Guardian.
The brand’s owner since 2012, the candy giant Mondelēz, has decided that parts of the production will move to Slovakia. This has caused the Swiss to pull the handbrake. Since 2017, there has been a law on “Swissness” that regulates brands’ use of the Swiss flag and other symbols associated with the country.
Popular Christmas candy in southwestern Europe
In addition to the Matterhorn, the sharp-eyed can see the outline of a bear in the logo if you look closely. A symbol of the triangular chocolate’s hometown of Bern, where it was first manufactured by the founder Theodor Tobler in 1908. The name comes from his surname and “torrone”, a nougat with roasted almonds that is a popular Christmas treat in southwestern Europe.
For brands to be allowed to use Swiss symbols, 80 percent of the raw materials must come from Switzerland. For milk products, the requirements are even stricter. There, one hundred percent of the raw materials must be Swiss. Then of course there are exceptions for raw materials that cannot be produced in the small Alpine country, such as cocoa.
Generic alpine peak
But the fact that the company loses the rights to use the Matterhorn and the bear is not something they lose sleep over. Instead, they will use a more generic alpine peak.
“The packaging has been given a modernized and streamlined mountain logo that is in line with the geometric and triangular aesthetic,” a Mondelēz spokesperson told Aargau Zeitung.
In addition, they will no longer be able to claim that the popular chocolate is “Made in Switzerland”. It may be changed to “Established in Switzerland”. It may sound like a small thing, but studies show that products that use “Made in Switzerland” can sell for up to 50 percent more than equivalent products from other countries.