Aldi has made fun of Marks and Spencer’s legal challenge to its caterpillar cake on social media.
Recently it was revealed that retailer M&S is taking the discount supermarket chain to the High Court over its popular dessert.
In the claim, M&S, which makes the well-known Colin the Caterpillar cake, says Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake infringes its trademark.
M&S has lodged an intellectual property claim with the High Court in an effort to protect Colin.
In response to the news, Aldi’s social media team poked fun at the situation on Twitter, labelling the court case #FreeCuthbert in a series of tweets.
The first tweet read: “This is not just any court case, this is... #FreeCuthbert.”
They followed it up with a subsequent gag using some innovative wordplay that references M&S’s caterpillar cake, Colin.
It said: “Just Colin our lawyers. #FreeCuthbert.”
In an additional tweet, the supermarket’s official Twitter account tagged TV judge Judge Rinder, writing: “How’s your diary looking? Asking for a friend. #FreeCuthbert.”
In its claim against Aldi, M&S said it wants the supermarket to stop selling Cuthbert the Caterpillar cakes and to agree not to sell anything similar in the future.
A spokesperson for M&S said: “Because we know the M&S brand is special to our customers and they expect only the very best from us, love and care goes into every M&S product on our shelves.
“So we want to protect Colin, Connie and our reputation for freshness, quality, innovation and value.”
It says Cuthbert the Caterpillar’s similarities “ride on the coat-tails” of the reputation of their Colin the Caterpillar product.
One Twitter user pointed out that the majority of UK supermarkets have some version of a caterpillar cake, writing, “What’s the fuss about?”.
M&S created the first Colin the Caterpillar in 1990 and has since manufactured more than 15 million of the multi-legged baked goods. The appearance of the cake has remained much the same since 2004. The cakes are made from 23 per cent milk and 11 per cent white chocolate, and Colin’s face is hand-piped.
The range has since expanded to include Colin’s girlfriend, Connie the Caterpillar, mini caterpillars and an extra-large version.
