Nestle Kit Kat With Hindu Deities to Go Off Shelves

New Delhi: Nestle has been compelled to abandon a line of KitKat bars coated in wrappers depicting Hindu gods in India, according to the Daily Mail.

The chocolate bars adorned with images of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Mata Subhadra have aroused concerns that they will inevitably be thrown away in bins and on the streets, according to the newspaper.

The KitKat wrapper with a picture of Lord Jagannath has just recently gained attention, eliciting mixed comments on social media.

"Kindly remove the pictures… they might even get stepped on unintentionally," one Twitter user posted.

Another Twitter user said that while having "Odisha culture and Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra on KitKat, throwing the wrappers in the dustbin or stepping on them accidentally would be an insult to the deities."

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According to Nestle, the bars were introduced to "celebrate the culture." Since then, the firm has apologised and withdrawn the bar range.

A Nestle spokesperson said: "We do understand the sensitivity of the matter and regret if we have inadvertently hurt anyone’s sentiments. We had already withdrawn these packs from the market last year. We thank you for your understanding and support.

"We wanted to encourage people to know about the art and its artisans. We do understand the sensitivity of the matter and regret it if we have inadvertently hurt people’s sentiments."

The KitKat bars that were found to be insulting to Hindus were first distributed in Odisha.

Nestle is the latest in a long line of businesses that have had to apologise to Hindus in recent years.

Tanishq, a jewellery business, apologised and retracted a campaign portraying what appeared to be a Hindu daughter-in-law of a Muslim family in 2020.

Similar problems have erupted in recent years at companies such as Zomato, Unilever, and Manyavar, according to the report.