Another month, another social media mishap for a major brand. This time it’s Nutella’s parent company, Ferrero SpA.
A French campaign, dubbed “Say It With Nutella,” allows users to customize a jar of the sugary spread to share online. But not every phrase is being accepted, however, according to Eater. Along with “swear words, drugs and violent terms,” terms such as “lesbian,” “Muslim” and “Jewish” are reportedly unable to be selected.
The Daily Mail adds that health-related words like “cancer,” “diabetes” and “obesity” are also prohibited.
Pink News reached out to Ferrero, the company that makes Nutella, and received the following statement:
The negative or insulting messages were directly removed from the field of possibilities, the idea being to use the jar of Nutella as a communication medium to share enthusiasm. Similarly, words of communities that are often subject to attacks by malicious people were removed from the proposals.
The news comes after Ferrero owner and billionaire Michele Ferrero died in February. His passing could open the door for rival food companies to acquire the company, according to Reuters. “Certainly there’s more chance of a deal now than there was before; that absolutely must be true,” Andrew Cosgrove, EY’s global lead analyst on consumer goods, told Reuters. “It was widely rumored that no deal would happen until this event.”
Perhaps not, if Nutella-gate gets out of hand.