Toblerone will lose the Swiss mountain of packaging – 05/03/2023 – Market

The image of the Matterhorn mountain peak, one of Switzerland’s best-known symbols, will disappear from Toblerone chocolate packaging. The change occurs, says the newspaper Aarguer Zeitung, because the parent company, Mondelez International, is going to transfer part of the production to Slovakia from July.

According to the newspaper, the owner will redesign the packaging so as not to violate the Swissness Act, a Swiss law, which does not allow national symbols and Swiss crosses to be stamped on products that do not meet the established criteria.

The partial transfer of triangular chocolate production to the Mondelez factory in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is in full swing. The exchange takes place at a time when workers in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, which produces the product for export, are demanding a 6% wage increase.

With the change, Toblerone will no longer be able to call itself “Made in Switzerland”.

In addition to the removal of the Matterhorn, one of the strongest national symbols, another adaptation of the packaging will be the replacement of the phrase “from Switzerland” for “established in Switzerland”.

A simpler mountain logo should be used in place of the symbol, which does not look like the existing element so as not to violate the law, but which still reminds consumers of the Swiss attribute of chocolate.

It remains to be seen whether the new design will be approved by the institute responsible for intellectual property.

Regarding the impact of the change on sales, Mondelez does not expect major losses, Stefan Vogler, marketing specialist, told Aarguer Zeitung. According to him, the change should also be well received by competitors such as Lindt & Sprüngli, as it is in the interest of the industry that the brand is used correctly.

The Swissness Act has been in force since 2017 and aims to protect the “Switzerland” brand. Foodstuffs, for example, can be described as Swiss if at least 80% of the raw materials come from Switzerland —100% for milk and dairy products— and if the essential step of the work takes place in Switzerland.

If a raw material is not found in the country, such as cocoa, this is considered an exception.