The more appropriate question perhaps is, "How old were you when you discovered this hidden figure in the Toblerone packaging? Because to be very honest, me, only now haha!
We've been consuming Toblerones for decades, and yet most of us did not notice this little creature lurking in the mountain! 😄
It's so shameful to say that I only discovered this hidden bear in the packaging after reading the news this afternoon in the Daily Mail.
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| Spot the bear in the Toblerone packaging |
According to the news published by Daily Mail, a mother from Australia named Stephanie was amazed that her 10-year-old son instantly recognized the hidden bear in the Toblerone packaging the first time he was given a Toblerone bar, an innocent discovery that most people and Toblerone lovers probably did not know before.
Stephanie revealed that her son spotted a "secret bear" inside the Swiss mountain image imprinted in the Toblerone packaging.
"'My son had his first Toblerone today", her post said. And then her son asked, "What's the bear for?", and then she replied: "what bear?"
Stephanie commented, "I was today years old when I found out there’s a bear in the Toblerone logo", she laughed.
So after reading this post in the Daily Mail, I immediately dashed to our refrigerator because there is one Toblerone bar that has been in our ref for a week now haha! And then I stared at the logo and viola! Yeah, there is!
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| The bear! I just noticed it now also haha! |
And I laughed! Because I've been eating Toblerone chocolates for decades, and way back then, when I was still working at the university, a friend of mine, even gifted me a big Toblerone bar for two successive Christmas, and yet! I did not notice this secret bear in the packaging!
Wow! That Aussie boy, what a smart kid! He has a sharp eye for details. So, have you noticed this secret bear too in the logo? 😂
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| Toblerone packaging |
It's so crazy to discover things only in our adulthood when kids can easily figure them out by just using their keen senses.
Okay, so here's an explanation of that "hidden bear" in the Toblerone packaging.
Bern, the capital city of Switzerland
Toblerone is originally a Swiss chocolate brand produced in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Bern is a German term for "bear".
The heraldic beast of Bern is the bear. It has long served as the namesake, emblem, and mascot of Bern. The founding legend has it that Duke Berthold V of Zähringen vowed to choose as namesake the first animal his hunt met in the wood that was to be chopped down for the new city.
And they encountered a bear!
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| Coat of Arms of the city of Bern |
The coat of arms of Bern is on a red field a yellow diagonal band charged with a black bear with a red tongue, claws, and penis walking upwards toward the hoist. The heraldic blazon reads: Gules, on a bend or, a bear passant sable, langued, armed and vilené of the field.
Bern is the capital of Switzerland and its official language is German. With a population of about 133,000, Bern is the fifth-most populous city in Switzerland behind Zurich, Geneva, Basel, and Lausanne
Toblerone history:
The Tobler chocolate factory was founded in 1899 by cousins, Emil Baumann & Theodor Tobler, in Bern. In 1908, Emil Baumann created a unique recipe consisting of milk chocolate including nougat, almonds, and honey.
Theodor Tobler came up with a distinctive triangular shape and packaging of Toblerone. The product's name is a combination of Tobler and the Italian word, Torrone (which is a soft nougat sweet bar of royal pastry). Tobler + Torrone = Toblerone 😄
Today, Toblerone is known for its distinctive shape, a series of joined triangular prisms, and lettering engraved in the chocolate.
The triangular shape of the Matterhorn mountain that straddles the Swiss Alps and the Italian Alps, many believed, was the inspiration of Theodor Tobler for the shape of Toblerone, and for the image logo in the packaging.
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| Matterhorn mountain appears on the modern Toblerone packaging |
But this was debunked by Theodor Tobler's sons, saying that the triangular shape of the Toblerone chocolates was inspired by a pyramid shape that dancers at the Folies Bergères created as the finale of a show that their father saw.
Nonetheless, a silhouette of the Matterhorn mountain appears on the modern Toblerone packaging, along with a sheer drawing of a bear (that's so difficult to identify due to its silhouette form).
Theodor Tobler applied for a patent for the Toblerone manufacturing process in Bern in 1909 and was trademarked in 1909 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Bern.
In 1970, the Tobler company merged with Suchard, the makers of Milka, to become Interfood. After the Tobler & Suchard merger, it was decided to create a new and single source for marketing & exporting the various products manufactured by both companies worldwide, Multifood.
Tobler & Suchard companies merged with the Jacobs coffee company in 1982 to create Jacobs Tobler & Suchard. Kraft Foods Inc acquired the majority of Jacobs Suchard, including Toblerone, in 1990.
In 2012, it was spun off to Mondelēz International Food Company. However, its production facility remains in Bern.
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| This is a clearer illustration of the Toblerone packaging showing the hidden bear |
Okay, when we just looked at it (the image in the Toblerone packaging), without paying attention to the details of the image (because the mountain is in a silhouette form), we would never identify the bear because it softly blended on the light lines of the mountain.
The bear appears to be more like a hidden figure in the image, as though an optical illusion, a riddle, that challenges our senses, One really needs a keen eye for details to spot the bear.
And the 10-year-old boy has a sharp eye more than many of us, adults haha! Now, at least, we have another exciting knowledge discovery about one of the world's most beloved sweet treats!
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