Nestle India has apologised for depicting images of Hindu Gods on some packs of its chocolate brand KitKat, adding that the packs were withdrawn in the middle of last year.The food giant withdrew these packs from the market last year as it immediately understood the sensitivity of the matter and regretted if it had hurt anyone’s sentiments.
Certain packs of KitKat depicted images of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Mata Subhadra on their wrappers.
The company said it is also responding individually to all those who have raised queries or objected to the packaging. Consumers across social media have accused the company of hurting religious sentiments by showing images of Hindu gods on its chocolate brand wrappers.
According to Nestle, these were travel packs meant to celebrate “beautiful local destinations,” and its simple plan was to celebrate the culture of Odisha with designs on packs representing the ancient Pattachitra art form.
This is the second such incident for Nestle. Last year, in April, the company apologised for wrongly depicting Manipur’s Keibul Lamjao national park as located in Meghalaya on certain packs of its KitKat chocolate, after objections by authorities from the state government. Packs of the specific batch of KitKat also displayed a picture of a red panda, a species that is not found at the Keibul Lamjao national park.