Toblerone chocolate will lose the iconic image of the Matterhorn on the packaging, as it loses the right to be called «Swiss». The fact is that the American owner of the brand, the confectionery giant Mondelez, decided to move production outside of Switzerland — for the first time in history.
Last year, Mondelez announced that it was opening a new production site for Toblerone in Slovakia due to growing demand for its products around the world.
The changes have come at a cost to the brand: according to Swiss law, only milk-based products made entirely in Switzerland can use national symbols in their marketing. This means that the Swiss Toblerone, which was first created in Bern in 1908, will now be released without the Matterhorn on the packaging — one of its most recognizable traits. The image of Bern's heraldic animal, the bear, whose shape is hidden inside the Matterhorn, will also disappear.
Crunchy almond and honey nougat chocolate is easily recognizable by its unique triangular shape, reminiscent of the Alpine mountains, a special font, logo and inscriptions engraved on the chocolate . All of this will most likely be lost as Toblerone will now be partly produced in Slovakia.
Mondelez said the image of the 4,478-meter Swiss mountain peak will be replaced with a different peak, and the font on the packaging will change. In addition, it will say «made in Switzerland» instead of «from Switzerland».
The package will also bear the signature of Toblerone founder Theodore Tobler, which pays homage to the origin of this chocolate.
While many of the symbols will disappear from the new packaging, Mondelez believes that the company will benefit in numbers from the decision to move production to Slovakia. The new production site in Eastern Europe is expected to allow «producing millions of additional chocolates».
The design of the new packaging has not yet been revealed.