Toblerone chocolate could lose its iconic Swiss mountain logo

This week in branding news: Mondelez International Inc., the US parent company that owns the chocolate brand, is moving some of Toblerone’s production to Slovakia, meaning that the chocolate will not comply anymore with the Switzerland’s legal definition of “Swissness”.

In 2017, Switzerland indeed approved a law to protect “Swissness”. Accordingly, milk and dairy products labelled “Made in Switzerland” must have 100% of their raw materials sourced from within the country. However, there are exceptions for raw materials that cannot be produced in Switzerland (such as cocoa).

The use of Swiss symbols, including those that refer to a geographical area, is also covered by the law. This means that the Matterhorn mountain can no longer appear on Toblerone’s products, after more than 50 years on the packaging.

The same goes for the “Made in Switzerland” label, which will have to be removed from the packaging. “We will be relaunching the Toblerone packaging from this summer, saying the brand is “established in Switzerland”, stated a Mondelez spokesperson.

“For legal reasons, we have to adapt our packaging to the Swissness legislation. This includes removing the Swissness statement on the front of the Toblerone packaging”, Mondelez said in a statement. The snack food giant added that it will continue to produce some chocolate bars in Bern.

Let’s see what happens in the end, but it is possible we will buy Toblerone with a different image next time.