Each year on February 5th, lovers of the crack-laced hazelnut spread Nutella gather to create delicious recipes and spoon-feed each other scoops directly from the jar in celebration of World Nutella Day. But it appears that this year’s festivities may have been the last.
News.com.au reports that Ferrero, the company that manufactures Nutella, has sent a cease and desist letter to Sarah Rosso, the creator of the event, telling her she must stop using their logo and name on her Facebook (META) page, Twitter and website.
Ms. Rosso, who has basically been running a viral marketing campaign for Nutella for free and has this to show for it, will shut down nutelladay.com on May 25th, according to the site:
The cease-and-desist letter was a bit of a surprise and a disappointment, as over the years I’ve had contact and positive experiences with several employees of Ferrero, SpA., and with their public relations and brand strategy consultants, and I’ve always tried to collaborate and work together in the spirit and goodwill of a fan-run celebration of a spread I (to this day) still eat.
Meanwhile, Nutella fans on Facebook are none too enthused. “Nutella…more nuts in company management than in every jar,” wrote one. “Idiots.”
We’d call for a boycott of Nutella, but we all know it’s not physically possible.