A row has erupted over Tunnock's teacake advertisements on the London Underground, with some Scottish customers accusing the company of removing the lion rampant from its branding. The billboards, promoting the popular mallow-and-biscuit treat, appear to show the product without the iconic Scottish emblem that has been part of the company's logo since 1890.
However, managing director Boyd Tunnock, 82, insisted the lion has never been on the foil wrapper and remains on the bright yellow box. “The lion was never on the foil. The lion was on the box and it is still on the box and it hasn’t been taken off the box,” he told BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show. He described the controversy as a “storm in a teacake” and valued the free publicity at £5,000 from a Times feature alone.
Tunnock, a self-described Tory who backed the No campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, said the adverts call the product a “great British teacake”. He sent a box to Nicola Sturgeon for Christmas, as well as to David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn. “We are in Britain. We are advertising the great British teacake,” he said, noting that 55% of Scots voted to remain in the UK.
The company, which makes 3.5m teacakes a week, expects output to increase when a new plant is completed. Meanwhile, the hashtag #BoycottTunnocks trended briefly on Twitter, but Tunnock appeared unfazed, saying: “As long as they keep talking about us it’s fantastic.”
