Toblerone chocolate bars will soon no longer have their iconic Matterhorn mountain peak on their packaging, due to the brand’s US owner moving some production outside of Switzerland, reports say.
“Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung reported that Mondelez International Inc., which produces the triangular treat, is changing the design of the mountain depicted on the cardboard wrapper so as not to violate the Swissness Act,” Bloomberg states.
The company reported announced the plans last year to move some of the triangular treat’s production to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava to cut costs.
The packaging design is changing as well, to a “modernized and streamline mountain logo that aligns with the geometric and triangular aesthetic,” a Mondelez spokesperson told the newspaper.
Rather than reading “of Switzerland,” the packaging will state “established in Switzerland.”
The changes are being credited to the company not wanting to violate Switzerland’s “Swissness Act,” enacted in 2017, that prohibits national symbols and Swiss crosses on the packaging of products that do not meet Swissnesss criteria.
“The new ‘Swissness’ legislation therefore strengthens protection for the ‘Made in Switzerland’ designation and the Swiss cross. It helps prevent and curb their misuse, so that the value of the ‘Swiss’ brand can be preserved in the long term,” the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, states.
The Toblerone factory in Bern, Switzerland will remain open, but it is not certain what changes in production might take place there, Scripps reports.