Swiss chocolate brand Toblerone manufactured by Mondelēz International has been in the news recently. The company made an announcement on 15 October 2016 on Toblerone’s Facebook page stating there would be a weight reduction in the two sizes of UK Toblerone bars as they are experiencing higher costs for numerous ingredients. The 400g bars were to be reduced to 360g and the 170g bars to 150g. The company chose to change the shape whilst maintaining the cost to keep the product affordable to customers.
The packaging was kept the same size but the UK Toblerone bars have been altered in shape by inserting gaps between the iconic triangles which has caused displeasure amongst many UK consumers.
The brand may now need to reconsider its intellectual property strategy as it remains to be seen whether trade mark UK00000981938 which protects the iconic Toblerone shape will remain valid.
Source: http://bbc.in/2eQlpb9 and http://bit.ly/2eQw8m0
