Cadbury’s purple reign ends bitterly; now even Earth has a claim to the colour
Had Cadbury’s prose been a shade less purple, the company might have won its case.
By ET Bureau |
Agencies
It is indeed unfortunate that due to purple prose, Cadbury has lost its battle to protect its distinctively imperial raiment for its chocolate wrappers from its arch-rival Nestlé. It seems the company’s argument to retain its specific purple was a shade too “wide-ranging”, so less words may have won the day — and the colour.
For a company that was almost born to the purple — the colour was chosen in 1905 reportedly because it was a favourite of the (by then) late Queen-Empress Victoria — losing its bid for exclusive rights to the shade Pantone 2685C must have left a bitter aftertaste.
After all, purple has been as intrinsic to Cadbury’s chocolates as to music, from Deep Purple to Purple Haze and Purple Rain. The Colour Purple, had it not been appropriated by Alice Walker for the title of her novel on the life of African-American women in the US in the 1930s, could have well been the title of a book on the confectionary company’s history.
Cadbury’s record on purple has been rather patchy, given that it lost a similar battle to confectioner Darrell Lea in Australia over a decade ago. But Nestlé’s performance has been no better either as it had to cede to cat food maker Mars in 2010 on the colour purple too. Of course, Earth has a claim to the colour as well — scientists now say that before it became a blue dot, our planet was purple!
For a company that was almost born to the purple — the colour was chosen in 1905 reportedly because it was a favourite of the (by then) late Queen-Empress Victoria — losing its bid for exclusive rights to the shade Pantone 2685C must have left a bitter aftertaste.
After all, purple has been as intrinsic to Cadbury’s chocolates as to music, from Deep Purple to Purple Haze and Purple Rain. The Colour Purple, had it not been appropriated by Alice Walker for the title of her novel on the life of African-American women in the US in the 1930s, could have well been the title of a book on the confectionary company’s history.
Cadbury’s record on purple has been rather patchy, given that it lost a similar battle to confectioner Darrell Lea in Australia over a decade ago. But Nestlé’s performance has been no better either as it had to cede to cat food maker Mars in 2010 on the colour purple too. Of course, Earth has a claim to the colour as well — scientists now say that before it became a blue dot, our planet was purple!
A father-son duo was arrested for conning five-star hotels in Mumbai. The two would eat and drink and make a run for it, without paying the bill. They aren’t the only people who have entered a life of crime with food as the focal point.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
