The most emblematic of the Swiss mountains, the Matterhorn, is gradually disappearing from Toblerone packaging to meet the requirements of Swiss law, revealed this Monday the owner of the famous prism-shaped nougat chocolate bar.
Founded in 1908 in the factory of the Tobler family, Toblerone has so far only been produced in Bern, the capital of the Alpine nation.
But starting this fall, the famous chocolate bar will also be produced in Slovakia’s Bratislava “to respond to increased global demand,” said a spokeswoman for US food giant Mondelez International.
This partial move requires the brand to remove the “from Switzerland” designation just below the brand on the packaging to comply with the requirements of Swiss law, which was passed in 2017 to label products manufactured in the country. to protect.
But the replacement of the Matterhorn, the mythical mountain on the border between Italy and Switzerland with a height of 4,478 meters, with a stylized and generic mountain, provoked a debate in Switzerland.
“We have to adapt our packaging to Swiss legislation”a Mondelez spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The packaging redesign features a streamlined and streamlined mountain logo, in line with the geometric aesthetic”to be “more triangle,” he specified.
The new design – which, however, retains the silhouette of the bear – the symbol of Bern – engraved on the side of the mountain, started in the fall of last year.
Toblerone produces seven billion of its famous chocolate bars a year, 97% of which are exported to 120 countries.
The name is a pun on Tobler and “torrone” – the Italian name for honey and almond ‘nougat’.
The Tribune de Genève daily questioned whether this option was “commercial suicide”, but for the head of the Trio communications agency, Michael Kamm, the brand is “very well established beyond the logo”.
Olivier Furrer, professor of marketing at the University of Freiburg, believes this is a Swiss problem.
“The Matterhorn is especially important to Swiss consumers because it’s a matter of pride, but if the Swiss can be angry, I’m not sure foreigners will notice the difference”he noted, quoted by the Swiss daily.
Source: DN
