They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but one chocolate-lover took things too far with her Mother's Day-themed chocolate blocks, which replicated the famous design of Whittaker's.
The "personalised chocolate block sleeves" were pulled from online marketplace Chooice on Friday after it became clear they violated the trademark of one of New Zealand's most notable brands.
Made by 'Little Prince Art', the sleeves featured the recognisable "premium satin" gold paper and were personalised with the phrases "We love you Mum" and "Happy Mother's Day' where the flavours would usually sit.
On sale for $24, the chocolate block sleeves were being sold wrapped around a standard block of Whittaker's milk chocolate and were able to be personalised however the buyer liked.
"Choose your occasion and feature colour of your chocolate block. Write a small message for the back of the block and add a photo if you wish," the description promised.
A standard Whittaker's block of chocolate has an RRP of $5.30 in New Zealand.
Little Prince Art founder Samantha Prince told Newshub the post had only been up on the Chooice Facebook group for 16 minutes before they were alerted to it being a problem, and the listing has since been removed from the online marketplace.
She said it was the first time she'd created a product of this kind, and there hadn't been other 'special occasion' sleeves made before this.
"Six orders were placed with total sales of 10 blocks. We have not created or sent these out [and] Chooice is refunding all of these customers," she says.
She says it was only after speaking with Whittaker's on Friday she learned it was in violation of their trademark and added the brand's representative had been "very understanding".
Prince claims it was "an honest mistake" and she was a "member of the Whittaker's chocolate lover's community". She says no money from the sales would've gone to Whittaker's.
Whittakers provided Newshub with a statement on Friday, stating the "personalised chocolate that is being promoted for Mother's Day on e-commerce platform, Chooice, has no connection to Whittaker's".
"As the packaging appears to replicate our Whittaker's 250g block packaging, we have taken advice and the appropriate action to protect our intellectual property, as we take the protection of our brand identity very seriously."
The chocolate maker pointed to its own product as being a more appropriate Mother's Day gift.
