Kraft has bowed to a vicious public backlash and agreed to rename its new Vegemite product, iSnack2.0.
The famous Aussie spread's creamier offspring received its controversial name on Saturday following a national competition.
The Brass Razoo: Is it all a hoax?
The brainchild of 27-year-old West Australian web designer Dean Robbins, iSnack2.0 was chosen from over 48,000 entries — but has been met with near-total negativity since the announcement was
made during the AFL Grand Final.
Kraft today confirmed that the much-despised name will be dumped.
"The new name has simply not resonated with Australians … particularly the modern technical aspects associated with it," Kraft's head of corporate affairs Simon Talbot said.
"At no point in time has the new Vegemite name been about initiating a media publicity stunt.
"We are proud custodians of Vegemite, and have always been aware that it is the people's brand and a national icon."
iSnack2.0, trading off popular youth products such as the iPod and iPhone, claims to be "the next generation Vegemite".
Shoppers supported the new product before the naming controversy, buying almost three million "Name Me" jars since mid-June.
But online and in newspaper letters to the editor, the public were united in criticising the iSnack title.
Mr Robbins had explained his winning entry as being "a bit tongue in cheek really, the 'i' phenomenon and Web 2.0 have been recent revolutions, and I thought the new Vegemite name could do the same."
Kraft said it would clear about 500,000 iSnack-labelled jars through supermarket shelves — estimated to be about two months of supply — before Australian and New Zealand customers will decide on another name through a popularity vote.
More details on the voting system will be released on Friday.
Front page
RSS Feed