Simon Howie has moved its Chocolate Haggis from purple to blue packaging following a legal dispute with Cadbury.
The product – a haggis-shaped chocolate brownie pudding – was originally introduced by the Scottish butcher as a limited-edition for Burns Night in 2024.
To mark the launch, Simon Howie spoofed Cadbury’s 2007 Gorilla campaign, circulating a video featuring a giant haggis playing Loch Lomond on the drums, accompanied by the caption “dram and a half”.
However, in the months following the launch, Simon Howie said it received three separate emails from brand protection at Cadbury owner Mondelez International.
The manufacturer had taken issue with its use of “shades of purple which are similar to Cadbury Purple (or so close as to be indistinguishable to consumers)” for its packaging, along with its use of a ‘dram and a half’ and the colour purple within its ad, it said.
“We replied each time explaining we had not used their trademark purple, pointing out that the advert had been clearly pitched as a humorous homage to Cadbury’s, and that of the many, many customer comments we received not one had confused it as a Cadbury’s product,” a spokeswoman for Simon Howie told The Grocer.
However, after being contacted again by Mondelez’s lawyers, who “threatened us with formal proceedings, legal costs and damages,” the business had agreed to change the colour of its packaging and remove its giant haggis advert, the spokeswoman added.
When approached by The Grocer, a spokesman for Mondelez said: “We own a colour trademark in the UK for the distinctive Cadbury purple colour for food products.
“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 within packaging or advertisements.
“In this instance, we reached a satisfactory agreement.”
Chocolate Haggis 2.0
The Grocer understands Simon Howie had intended to revive its Chocolate Haggis this time last year, ahead of Burns Night 2025, but had not been able to, due to the legal proceedings.
However, the latest iteration, wrapped in blue packaging, boasts a “new and improved” recipe featuring pieces of Walker’s shortbread and Mrs Tilly’s fudge.
Simon Howie recommends removing all packaging and microwaving the pudding for about three minutes before serving it with ice cream or cream.
It will roll into Tesco on 26 December (rsp: £5/454g), before hitting Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Scotmid in January, available until Burns Night (25 January).
“For our wee limited-edition Chocolate Haggis to worry the biggest players in chocolate shows the success of the 2023 launch,” said Simon Howie.
“While we were disappointed not to be able to bring it back straight away, we used the time we needed to change the packaging to also improve the recipe by adding in chunks of shortbread and fudge from our friends at Walker’s and Mrs Tilly’s.
“The Scottish food and drink community is known for its collaboration, and this is a perfect example of three like-minded family-owned manufacturers teaming up to create a unique and innovative product.”
This isn’t the first time an fmcg brand has drawn the ire of Mondelez for using purple packaging. The manufacturer threatened Primal Pantry owner Nurture Brands with legal action in 2021 for using packaging that is a similar colour to the trademark lilac of its Milka brand.
No comments yet