Aldi has launched a #FreeCuthbert hashtag on Twitter on Friday and posted about the caterpillar cake row with Marks & Spencer in a series of amusing tweets that mocked its rival.
Marks and Spencer announced that it would be taking Aldi to court over the budget brand’s take on their famous Colin the Caterpillar cake.
M&S argue that Aldi is taking its intellectual property by making a similar Caterpillar cake to their own. They want Aldi to remove the product from sale and agree not to sell anything similar in the future, and said the similarity between the cakes would lead consumers to believe they are of the same standard.
Aldi’s sell a ‘Cuthbert the Caterpillar’ cake at £4.99 while Sainsbury’s sells a caterpillar cake called Wiggles for £6 and Tesco features Curly the Caterpillar for the same price. Despite this, M&S wants Aldi to remove the cake from sale.
Aldi posted a picture on Twitter of their ‘packaging update’ showing Cuthbert behind bars with the Hashtag #FreeCuthbert. In another Tweet Aldi makes reference to an iconic cake-eating scene from Matilda and another asked ITV Court Judge Rinder “How’s your diary looking? Asking for a friend.”
M&S launched their ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ cake around 30 years ago and his appearance has been substantially unchanged since around 2004, except for adaptations for events such as Halloween and Christmas, and related products such as Connie the Caterpillar. The M&S cakes sell for £7.
A spokesperson for Marks & Spencer said they wanted “to protect Colin, Connie and our reputation for freshness, quality, innovation and value”.
But Aldi have seen the funny side and seem undeterred by the legal issue. M&S are yet to respond to the Twitter baiting.
