Colin the Caterpillar: Aldi sends cheeky tweet to Marks & Spencer after customer receives damaged cake from Sussex store

The two supermarket giants had been embroiled in a legal battle over their designs of their caterpillar cakes.

M&S launched legal action against Aldi in April 2021 over concerns that the German discount store had copied the design of its best-selling bug-shaped cake.

The high street retailer claimed that Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar infringed on their Colin the Caterpillar trademark, and demanded that the supermarket remove all of the Cuthbert products from sale, and agree not to sell anything similar in the future.

The two supermarkets reached a settlement in their copyright dispute over the design of their caterpillar cakes in February 2022, but the feud reared its head once again thanks to a viral tweet posted on Thursday [March 16].

Daniella Bourne-McCourt was shocked to find that the Colin the Caterpillar cake she had purchased from M&S in Crawley had ‘lost his head’, and took to Twitter to demand answers from the retailer.

She tweeted: “@marksandspencer pretty miffed to find my Colin has lost his head! Must have been a wild night in the Crawley store!!! His face is the best bit as well! @AldiUK I’m sure that Cuthburt [sic] wouldn’t let me down like this!”

M&S were quick to reply to Daniella, tweeting: “Oh dear Daniella, it is the best bit so I can appreciate your disappointment! Please send us a DM with your full name, email address and post code so we can help”

And Aldi, in a witty response, proclaimed their innocence following Colin’s grisly demise.

They tweeted: “.@marksandspencer before you even ask, we’ve got an alibi”

Aldi’s response was widely-praised on Twitter, with users hailing the German company for poking fun at their competitor.

@KatieinKanto tweeted: “Your social media team need a raise”, with three clapping hand emojis.

Audrey Jermyn replied: “Aldi social media team are just the best!”

And Becky Reay Leach added: “In my next life I want to come back as the person who does the @AldiUK socials!”