Lidl has decided to weigh into the heavyweight showdown that is Colin vs Cuthbert.
If you're not aware of the background here, this is the low-down: Marks & Spencer have begun legal action against fellow supermarket giant Aldi over claims that the German brand have infringed on M&S's copyright of national treasure Colin the Caterpillar.
They claim that Aldi's very own Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake is too similar, and have launched an intellectual property claim to the High Court over the product, saying that Cuthbert's striking similarity could cause customers to think that they are of the same standard. They go as far as to say that Cuthbert "rides on the coattails" of Colin.
So, there is supermarket beef and drama going on.
The Aldi social media team have been quick to stir things up as well. They've already shared that "this is not just any court case, this is... #FreeCuthbert," and that they are "Just Colin our lawyers."
https://www.facebook.com/AldiUK/posts/4079004528826985
Now fellow budget German supermarket Lidl have decided to get involved.
Lidl Ireland's Twitter account shared a picture of a Google search for ''insects that look like caterpillars that aren't" with the caption: "Our legal team's search history right now."
https://twitter.com/lidl_ireland/status/1383042199932313604
All very amusing. But it doesn't sound like Marks and Spencer are laughing about this.
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."
Perhaps the most interesting part of all this though, is why they have singled out Aldi for their supposedly-fraudulent caterpillar-based cake. Every supermarket in the land has adopted a cousin of Colin it would seem.
Sainsbury's have got Wiggles, Tesco have Curly and Asda have Clyde. Then there's Charlie at the Co-op, Cecil at Waitrose and Morris of (unsurprisingly) Morrisons.
But there's clearly something about Cuthbert that just couldn't be ignored by M&S. And right in the middle of this whole fiasco? Poor old Colin and Cuthbert.
Won't someone think of the caterpillars...
