Toblerone Prohibited From Having Matterhorn In Logo As Candy Isn’t Swiss Enough

Toblerone’s mountain is melting off as the brand is relocating some of its production outside of Switzerland, making it no longer legal for it to use Swiss symbols on its packaging.

Mondelez, Toblerone’s parent company which is headquartered in the US, says it will revamp the triangular chocolate’s logo and wrappers to avoid clashing with the nation’s Swissness Act, as reported by local newspaper Argauer Zeitung.

Under the Swissness Act, food brands can only use Swiss symbols or crosses if they meet Swissness standards. They can only identify themselves as “Swiss made” if at least 80% of a product’s raw materials, and 100% of milk and dairy products, are sourced locally. A significant amount of processes must also take place in Switzerland for a product to be claimed as Swiss-made.

Toblerone has been operating in the Swiss capital of Bern since its founding in 1908, therefore being compliant with the Swissness Act—which came into force in 2017—and having the right to incorporate the Matterhorn in its branding. However, Mondelez announced last year that it would shift some Toblerone production to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, making it necessary to replace the Swiss mountain by law.

A Mondelez spokesperson tells Aargauer Zeitung that Toblerone will adopt a non-specific mountain graphic that is also “modernized and streamlined” to honor the brand’s geometric and triangular image.

For more accuracy, the confectioner will also remove the ‘of Switzerland’ label in favor of a new ‘established in Switzerland’ phrase.

The last time Toblerone made changes to its Matterhorn symbol was just last year, when it redrew the mountain as part of a brand refresh to “be more triangle.”

It’s unclear if the new mountain will retain the logo’s hidden bear, a nod to Bern’s coat of arms and the capital’s nickname being the City of Bears.

Mondelez emphasizes in a statement to AFP (via The Journal) that it will continue investing in its Bern factory, which is set in the “homeland of Toblerone” and is an integral part of its history.

A spokesperson adds that reorganizing Mondelez’s manufacturing line and moving a portion of it to Slovakia will help it “unlock” more capacity to produce “millions” more candy bars in Bern.

[via Bloomberg and The Journal, images via Dreamstime]