Hindu Gods’ images on KitKat cover, Nestle lands in trouble

NEW DELHI: Nestle India faced heavy backlash for adorning Kit Kat wrappers with the images of Hindu Gods. The company has announced the withdrawal of a special range of Kit Kats in the country in response to the rising protests. The Kit Kat wrappers had featured images of sacred Hindu deities namely Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Mata Subhadra.

Nestle India is the Indian subsidiary of Swiss multinational company Nestle. The protests arose stating that the wrappers with deity images had hurt Hindu religious sentiments. Following the outrage, the company expressed regret and revealed that they had withdrawn the packs from the market last year in advance, as a pre-emptive action.

Those packs with the images of Gods were travel packs, which were meant to celebrate the culture of Odisha. The designs on the packs represented 'Pattachitra', an ancient Odisha-based artwork which is famous for the mythological narrative and folktales inscribed on it. It is also used as souvenirs by pilgrims to Puri and other temples on Odisha.

‘’We wanted to celebrate the culture of Odisha with designs on packs representing 'Pattachitra’ and encourage people to know about the art and its artisans. Our past campaigns have also shown that consumers like to collect and keep such beautiful designs. We never intended to hurt anyone’s sentiments and express regret for the incident’’, said Nestle India.