Two chocolate caterpillar cakes named Colin and Cuthbert have found themselves at the centre of a very British legal battle.
Marks & Spencer announced this week that it was taking action over its iconic Colin the Caterpillar cake, arguing that Aldi's Cuthbert the Caterpillar infringes its trademark and "rides on the coat-tails" of its reputation.
You might expect Aldi to keep Cuthbert's head in the dirt until the matter has been resolved, but the chain has instead poked fun at the situation with a series of brazen posts of social media.
Its 'Free Cuthbert' campaign trended on Twitter as it mocked up a 'packaging update' for the chocolate caterpillar by adding prison bars to its box and changing the wording to 'Serves 12 years' (as seen above).
Shortly after news of the legal action broke, Aldi poked fun at Marks & Spencer's adverts by tweeting: "This is not just any court case, this is..."
And it didn't stop there as it fired off a series of other messages including 'Just Colin our lawyers', 'Marks & Snitches more like' and 'Cuthbert has been found GUILTY... of being delicious'."
Aldi even sent a message of defiance to Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Asda over the stores' own animal-themed log cakes, writing: "Cecil, Wiggles, Curly, Clyde. We got you."
But it broke the heart of Morrisons to find its Morris the Caterpillar cake had been excluded from the call to arms, as it replied to say: "When you find out your friends have a group chat without you."
Brits were left divided over which caterpillar's side to take in the argument and the posts sparked a fierce debate on social media.
A spokesperson for Aldi said that Cuthbert hasn't been sold by the supermarket since mid-February, adding: "Cuthbert has lots of caterpillar friends at other supermarkets including Curly, Clyde, Cecil, Morris and Wiggles.
"He has always played by the rules and is grateful for all the support he’s received from Aldi customers #freecuthbert."
Marks & Spencer has been contacted for comment.
