Lidl uses German mountain to promote its Swiss products
German supermarket chain Lidl has been left with egg on its face after a recent advertising campaign
Finding a picture of a Swiss mountain shouldn’t be hard to do. There are literally thousands to choose from.
However, the task proved a bridge too far for German supermarket giant Lidl in a recent advertising campaign.
The discounter, which has 105 stores in Switzerland, recently boasted of the Swiss provenance of many of its products with a picture of an idyllic alpine scene, replete with a snow-capped peak, a vivid green meadow and a log cabin.
Also included with the image was the motto “Swiss guarantee”, not to mention a stylized white cross accompanied by the name of the famously mountainous country in three of its four national languages.
The Lidl advertisement features German mountain the Watzmann.
But there was just one problem. The mountain featured in the photo is actually the Watzmann, which happens to be located in the Berchtesgaden Alps in the southern German region of Bavaria.
“We are happy that the dramatic Watzmann is such a popular image but we think it’s very important that the mountain stays in Berchtesgaden,” a tourism official for the German region told Swiss business paper Handelszeitung when the error was pointed out.
Lidl meanwhile were distinctly unimpressed.
“The fact that a foreign picture has made its way (into our advertising material) is actually very painful,” a company spokesperson told Handelszeitung.
The offending advertisement has already been removed from Lidl's website.
There is some consolation for Lidl though, the paper notes. Arch-rivals Aldi have previously made the same mistake with the very same mountain.
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Finding a picture of a Swiss mountain shouldn’t be hard to do. There are literally thousands to choose from.
However, the task proved a bridge too far for German supermarket giant Lidl in a recent advertising campaign.
The discounter, which has 105 stores in Switzerland, recently boasted of the Swiss provenance of many of its products with a picture of an idyllic alpine scene, replete with a snow-capped peak, a vivid green meadow and a log cabin.
Also included with the image was the motto “Swiss guarantee”, not to mention a stylized white cross accompanied by the name of the famously mountainous country in three of its four national languages.
The Lidl advertisement features German mountain the Watzmann.
But there was just one problem. The mountain featured in the photo is actually the Watzmann, which happens to be located in the Berchtesgaden Alps in the southern German region of Bavaria.
“We are happy that the dramatic Watzmann is such a popular image but we think it’s very important that the mountain stays in Berchtesgaden,” a tourism official for the German region told Swiss business paper Handelszeitung when the error was pointed out.
Lidl meanwhile were distinctly unimpressed.
“The fact that a foreign picture has made its way (into our advertising material) is actually very painful,” a company spokesperson told Handelszeitung.
The offending advertisement has already been removed from Lidl's website.
There is some consolation for Lidl though, the paper notes. Arch-rivals Aldi have previously made the same mistake with the very same mountain.
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