So, here's the scoop: a while back, Poundland, a British grocery chain, unveiled their own chocolate bar with triangular peaks and slim gaps in between. The wrapper looked pretty similar to Toblerone's iconic gold packaging with red lettering. You guessed it—it sparked a showdown. Toblerone wasn't thrilled about the copycat move, leading to a lengthy legal battle that delayed the launch of Poundland's chocolate bars until now.
Poundland's version, called Twin Peaks, bears a striking resemblance to its Swiss inspiration. But there's a twist: instead of one summit per triangle like Toblerone, Twin Peaks proudly rocks two summits. Apparently, Toblerone's shape was inspired by the Matterhorn mountain in the Alps, while Twin Peaks drew inspiration from the Ercall and the Wrekin, two hills on the English-Welsh border. Quite the geographical shift, right?
Poundland saw an opportunity with Twin Peaks, seizing on Toblerone's recent redesign. You see, last year, Toblerone reduced the amount of chocolate in their UK bars by 10% to save costs. The change resulted in wider gaps between the triangular ridges, causing chocolate fans to go wild. So Poundland stepped in, boasting that Twin Peaks offers "30g more chocolate" than the slimmed-down Toblerone. Take that, chocolate reduction!
Poundland's trading controller, Chris Burns, called out the chocolate injustice: "In the last 12 months, we believe our customers alone have missed out on 250 tonnes of chocolate after the size of their favorite item was chopped." Ouch.
Mondelez International, the company behind Toblerone, took Poundland to court, claiming their trademark rights were no longer valid due to the altered shape of Toblerone. The battle raged on for three months until a compromise was reached in October. Poundland got the green light to sell the 500,000 Twin Peaks bars already in production, but they had to make some changes. The wrappers had to swap gold for blue backgrounds and red for gold lettering.
According to Poundland's press release, they'll even tweak the shape of Twin Peaks to better resemble the outline of the Wrekin and Ercall hills. Talk about attention to detail.
