Nutella bans 'lesbian' and 'Muslim' from jars
Oliver Gee - [email protected]
Published: 2 Mar, 2015 CET.
Updated: Mon 2 Mar 2015 14:21 CET
Nutella has been the subject of much mockery in France after its advertising campaign aimed at personalizing jars banned a list of words including 'Lesbian', 'Muslim', 'toilet' and 'poo'.
The French have a deep love affair with Nutella. In fact one family took the love to a new level this year in an (unsuccessful) bid to name their daughter Nutella. But a new "Say it with Nutella" advertising campaign has fallen subject to mockery and scrutiny after the list of "banned words" was revealed. Internet users found the source code from the site that showed all the words that couldn't be chosen for adorning an online Nutella jar with a personal message. Grâce à la campagne Nutella toi aussi découvre tous les sujets qu’ils veulent éviter http://t.co/X3lL9gw5IN pic.twitter.com/bzZrVnUpiJ
— JP Cabaroc (@Cabaroc) February 24, 2015
The list included scores of words, including "Muslim", "Nazi", "lesbian" and "Jew". Many words related to drugs and sex were also banned, as was "palm oil" - a controversial ingredient of the popular Italian spread. And words that reflected adverse health side-effects were also forbidden, such as "obese", "fat", and "diabetes". The words "poo" (caca) and "fart" (prout) were also on the banned list. Attempts to use any of these words were met with an error message, and an encouragement to try something else. Ferrero, the company behind Nutella, explained in a statement that the "negative or insulting" words were removed as the campaign was intended to be a "communication medium to share enthusiasm". "Similarly, words of communities that are often subject to attacks by malicious people were removed from the proposals," it added. The company also had a bit of fun when reacting on Twitter, inviting fans to retweet the images below which says "Our imagination will never equal yours".
The campaign is still running for any Nutella fans who want to share pictures of their own name, providing it's in line with Nutella's rule book. 
(An accepted design in the new campaign. Photo: Nutella.fr)
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The French have a deep love affair with Nutella. In fact one family took the love to a new level this year in an (unsuccessful) bid to name their daughter Nutella.
But a new "Say it with Nutella" advertising campaign has fallen subject to mockery and scrutiny after the list of "banned words" was revealed.
Internet users found the source code from the site that showed all the words that couldn't be chosen for adorning an online Nutella jar with a personal message.
Grâce à la campagne Nutella toi aussi découvre tous les sujets qu’ils veulent éviter http://t.co/X3lL9gw5IN pic.twitter.com/bzZrVnUpiJ
— JP Cabaroc (@Cabaroc) February 24, 2015 The list included scores of words, including "Muslim", "Nazi", "lesbian" and "Jew". Many words related to drugs and sex were also banned, as was "palm oil" - a controversial ingredient of the popular Italian spread.
And words that reflected adverse health side-effects were also forbidden, such as "obese", "fat", and "diabetes".
The words "poo" (caca) and "fart" (prout) were also on the banned list.
Attempts to use any of these words were met with an error message, and an encouragement to try something else.
Ferrero, the company behind Nutella, explained in a statement that the "negative or insulting" words were removed as the campaign was intended to be a "communication medium to share enthusiasm".
"Similarly, words of communities that are often subject to attacks by malicious people were removed from the proposals," it added.
The company also had a bit of fun when reacting on Twitter, inviting fans to retweet the images below which says "Our imagination will never equal yours".
The campaign is still running for any Nutella fans who want to share pictures of their own name, providing it's in line with Nutella's rule book.
(An accepted design in the new campaign. Photo: Nutella.fr)
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