It’s Colin the Caterpillar war part eight! Now Poundland introduces its own budget copycat of M&S cake with £4.50 ‘Chris’ – half the price of the £9 original
- M&S classic Colin the Caterpillar faces another rival in supermarket cake wars
- Poundland joins battle with Chris the Caterpillar, selling at half the price of Colin
Another high street retailer has joined the infamous cake wars of UK supermarkets with its own cut-price version of a cake to rival Marks & Spencer’s classic Colin the Caterpillar.
Poundland has released Chris the Caterpillar – a similarly themed chocolate-covered bug cake priced at £4.50 – precisely half that of M&S’ Colin, which sells at £9.
It’s also cheaper than all of the other supermarket copycats, including Tesco’s Slinky at £7, Asda’s Letty at £7 and Morrison’s Morris at £8.50.
It even beats out Aldi’s controversial Cuthbert the Caterpillar, which at £4.99 reignited the cake wars when it was released on shelves.
In May 2021, M&S took legal action against Aldi – accusing the German discounter of copying the design of its famous Colin the Caterpillar.
M&S’s classic Colin the Caterpillar cake has been emulated by most UK supermarkets
Marks & Spencer has settled an intellectual property claim with the German discounter Aldi after it accused them of copying the design of its famous Colin the Caterpillar cake (pictured) for their rival Cuthbert
Details of the ‘confidential’ deal have not been revealed, but it is understood that Cuthbert (pictured) will not appear again in quite the same form
Wiggles was the least flavoursome of all the cakes and lacked real flavouring, although the chocolate shell was nice
Cheap and cheerful: Asda’s Clyde is a chocolate log with a lime green face
Simply delicious! The sponge of the Coop caterpillar cake is light and delicious
Morrison’s Morris is one of the cheaper versions of the caterpillar cake, but certainly didn’t taste it
READ MORE: AS ALDI’S CUTHBERT RETURNS TO SHELVES, WE SHARE CATERPILLAR CAKE TEST
Lawyers were brought in on the intellectual property claim, which even made it to the High Court.
But in February last year, both supermarkets confirmed an agreement has been struck to resolve the conflict.
Details of the ‘confidential’ deal were not revealed, but Cuthbert reappeared on shelves in a slightly different format.
The product is now listed as ‘Holly Lane Cuthbert Cake’ and its price has risen to £5.49.
Speaking after the deal was struck, Alex Watt, Partner at Howard Kennedy LLP law firm, observed: ‘It always seemed like this was an unlikely case to go all the way to trial.
‘The fact that there was a well-developed PR campaign by M&S launched at the same time suggests that – perhaps typically given the subject matter – this was always intended for public consumption.’
Poundland revealed Chris the Caterpillar to the public in a series of announcements from its local stores’ Facebook pages, The Sun revealed.
A Poundland shop in Barry, south Wales, even poked fun at the legal drama between M&S and Aldi, stating: ‘Chris the caterpillar has entered the building. Cuthbert ain’t got nothing on Chris.’
Colin the Caterpillar was launched in 1990 and quickly became a staple of children’s parties, with more than £15million cake sales under its belt – and it is a key M&S brand alongside Percy Pig.
M&S has three trademarks in relation to Colin, including the words ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ as well as the packaging.
Colin appeared in headlines during coverage of Downing Street’s lockdown parties, amid reports the cake was being served to guests.
The cake has also had more positive PR, with a tie-in with cancer charity Macmillan.
Despite being emulated by almost every other mainstream supermarket, only Aldi’s Cuthbert appears to prompted M&S to initiate legal action.
M&S and Poundland have been contacted by Mailonline for comment.
Source: Read Full Article