Milka manufacturer Mondalez has taken legal action against Tony's Chocoloney for mimicking its chocolate packaging.
The self-styled ethical chocolate firm has launched four new temporary wrappers, inspired by well-known bars Milka, Nestle, Mars and Ferrero. The bars were released in Germany and Austria to highlight child labour in the cocoa industry.
Tony's said it had changed the branding and plans to appeal against an injunction that has been imposed. Mondalez said it would not comment on ongoing legal action, but said it owned a colour trademark in Europe, which Tony's confirmed was the basis of the injunction.
“As a matter of practice, to protect the values of our brands, which we have worked hard to build over hundreds of years, we express our concerns to third parties when they are using a protected brand element,” the Milka manufacturer added.
In a statement released on LinkedIn, the Dutch chocolate company said it had released the new bars to highlight exploitation and the use of child labour by major cocoa suppliers.
“Most big chocolate companies don't pay a living income price for all their cocoa.. Resulting in exploitation on cocoa farms, with 1.56 million children involved in child labour in Ghana + Côte d'Ivoire,” the post said.
Tony's went on to say that following the release of the temporary bars, it had received a legal injunction from “about a certain bright, not-so-joyful colour we used on one of our bars”. The colour purple which was on the branded packaging in question, a parody on the iconic Milka bar, has since been replaced with grey,
Tony's said it would comply with the injunction “as long as we need to” – adding: “Let's pay farmers, not lawyers.” Mondalez added: “We can confirm that the current legal issue is limited only to trademark infringement matters and concerns.”
This is not the first time Tony's campaigning has made headlines. In 2021, the Dutch chocolate brand apologised for deliberately leaving one of its advent calendar windows empty to highlight inequality in the industry.
The company said it was meant to be “a great conversation starter for change”, but instead it was deluged with complaints from parents who said their children were upset by the missing chocolate. The Dutch-based company left an empty space behind the window for 8 December, saying it was using its products to “tell the story of the choco industry – an industry unequally divided and choc-full of inequality”.
— CutC by bbc.com
