Fights broke out in French supermarkets after they started selling the hazelnut-and-cocoa spread Nutella at a steep discount, according to local media.
The sales at the Intermarché chain—€1.41 ($1.76) a jar, representing 70% off—prompted “riot scenes everywhere,” according to the Lyon-based newspaper Le Progrès.
The paper reported that people “threw themselves” on store employees who were bringing out pallets of the popular spread. “They are like animals,” reported one customer, who talked about bloody hands, pulled hair and people being punched in the head.
Police were even called in to break up fights, according to the BBC, which said violent scenes occurred across the country.
Video evidence showed the feeding frenzy in action.
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Ferrero, the brand’s owner, blamed it all on Intermarché, saying it “deplored” the promotion “and its consequences.”
Italy’s Ferrero announced a week ago that it would buy Nestlé’s U.S. confectionary business. The Italian company owns some of the world’s best-loved candy brands, including Ferrero Rocher, Kinder, and Tic Tac.
Nutella was the spread that really built the company, though. Founder Pietro Ferrero hit upon the idea of using hazelnut—abundant in his native Piedmont region—in order to save on expensive chocolate when making confectionary.
The rest is history—and now, it seems, bloody as well.
