Ferrero Fail: World Nutella Day saved as makers backtrack

Victoria Craw
May 22, 2013
news.com.au

She loved their spread and spruiked it online. They didn’t like it and shut her down. But the reaction from fans has led to a resurrection for World Nutella Day.

Fans of the choc-hazelnut spread have been thrown a lifeline after Italian company Ferrero, who make Nutella revoked their “cease and desist” letter against Sara Rosso.

“I’m relieved to say there’s been a positive resolution to the situation,” she posted on the World Nutella Day site.

“Ferrero employees reached out to me directly after I had posted my fan letter online and sent my formal reply to their C&D. They were very gracious and supportive and we were able to have a productive discussion about World Nutella Day living on for the fans, which is the whole point.”

Rosso founded World Nutella Day in 2007 and created a website, Facebook page and Twitter account with tens of thousands of fans devoted to their favourite spread.

She was ordered to stop spruiking the product online with a cease and desist letter from Ferrero. However the company soon backflipped, saying they were pleased to find a solution after talking with Sara Rosso.

“Ferrero is pleased to announce that today, after contacting Sara Rosso and finding together the appropriate solutions, it immediately stopped the previous action.

Ferrero considers itself fortunate to have such devoted and loyal fans of its Nutella spread, like Sara Rosso,” the company wrote.

Read Ferrero’s full release on the World Nutella Day site.

Rosso denied the incident was a stunt, saying there were “real legal and formal documents exchanged” and she was pleased about the speed of the resolution.

Fans were positive about the result, although some thought it was too little too late.

“Glad to hear the resolution; i like their product and will continue to buy it, but i don’t like their lawyers, and i hope they all get belly-aches,” Todric Kam Koenig wrote on the World Nutella Day Facebook page.

“Too late. They have left a bitter taste in my mouth. Pun intended.I don’t think I’ll ever look at a jar of Nutella the same. They took the fun out of it,” said Nancy Nicholson Simioni.

The next World Nutella Day will be on February 5 2014.