Marks & Spencer shares meme in response to Aldi’s ‘Free Cuthbert’ jokes
The brand has launched a legal challenge over its Colin the Caterpillar cake
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Marks & Spencer has issued a response on Twitter to ongoing jokes made by the Aldi social media team over the weekend.
The brand announced last Friday it would be pursuing a legal challenge against the discount supermarket over its popular Colin The Caterpillar cake, having lodged a claim with the High Court.
In the claim, M&S says Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar infringes its trademark for the dessert and is “riding on the coat-tails” of the success of its cake.
But less than 24 hours after the news was made public, the Aldi social media team had devised a #FreeCuthbert hashtag and was mocking the supermarket in a series of jokes.
Paraphrasing Marks & Spencer’s famous slogan, the brand started a tweet thread, saying: “This is not just any court case, this is…”
As well as: “Just Colin our lawyers”.
They also tweeted TV judge, Judge Rinder, saying: “How’s your diary looking? Asking for a friend.”
And shared a mock courtroom sketch of Cuthbert in the stand.
“Marks & Snitches more like,” followed by a picture of Cuthbert behind bars in the cake’s familiar green packaging.
It also included the names of cakes sold in other supermarkets. “Cecil, Wiggles, Curly, Clyde. We got you,” it said.
And concluded: “Cuthbert has been found GUILTY….of being delicious.”
On Monday, Marks & Spencer issued a response on Twitter, saying: “Our social team over the weekend” with the “This is fine” meme and a photoshopped Colin the Caterpillar.
Marks & Spencer created the first Colin the Caterpillar cake in 1990 and has sold more than 15 million of the item over the years.
The appearance of the cake has remained much the same since 2004, but receives updated looks for seasonal holidays such as Halloween and Christmas.
Earlier this month the brand announced it would be releasing a “Colin jar” with deconstructed cake in glass pots but it divided fans, with some saying it seemed like a “late April fools”.
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