The state has shown how it protects national values
The sweet temptation has drawn the wrath of the state after its production was moved to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.
In 2024, the company was banned from using the iconic image of the Swiss mountain peak Matterhorn on its packaging after it announced that it was moving production from Switzerland to a foreign country.
Having the mountain peak on the packaging would violate the Swiss Law, passed in 2017, which prohibits national symbols and Swiss crosses on the packaging of products that do not meet Swiss criteria.
Toblerone has announced a major change to its iconic packaging, a year after it was embroiled in a dispute over how “Swiss” the chocolate is.
The company has caved in and said it is investing 65 million Swiss francs in its production center in Bern, the country’s capital.
How old were you when you found the Toblerone logo is the Matterhorn (and has a bear cleverly integrated into the mountain scenery)?
It is revealed that the Swiss flag will soon adorn the packaging of Toblerone chocolates made in the country, to highlight the brand’s heritage.
“Our centre of excellence in Switzerland, from where we proudly bring our brand and chocolate expertise around the world, is key to the brand’s growth ambition to win in the premium segment,” said Ian Livingstone, President of Toblerone & World Travel Retail.
Tim Spikenbaum, Director of the Bern production site, added: “Our plant has been a cornerstone of Toblerone production for decades. Today, we are already producing an average of 4 million Toblerone products per production day.
“We are therefore pleased with the planned modernizations and investments, which will not only improve our production capacity but also strengthen Bern’s position as the home and heart of the iconic triangular brand.”
Swiss law specifies that foods using Swiss national symbols or claiming to be “made in Switzerland” must contain at least 80 percent of the raw materials for the product coming from Switzerland. This increases to 100 percent for milk and dairy products.
Due to the production of chocolates outside Switzerland, the company was forced last year to replace the words “of Switzerland” with “established in Switzerland.”
Toblerone was invented in Switzerland by Theodor Tobler and Emil Baumann in 1908. “Toblerone” is a play on words from the names “Tobler” and “Torrone”, the Italian name for honey-almond nougat.
🍫 It may be the most famous of Swiss chocolates, and it is #OnThisDay, back in 1909, that the patent for @Toblerone was registered! #TBT pic.twitter.com/DQSAyafzlF
— About Switzerland (@AbtSwitzerland) March 29, 2018
Photo by Heinz Klier: https://www.pexels.com/photo/majestic-view-of-the-matterhorn-in-winter-31556771/
