A 70% discount on Nutella in French supermarkets has sent shoppers into a frenzy, with fights breaking out between customers.
According to The Local, police were reportedly called to a store in Ostrikourt, northern France because of the clashes.
A Twitter user uploaded footage of the consumerist chaos, saying "Seriously??!! All this is for Nutella?!"
Serieux??!! Tout ça pour du Nutella?! 😮 #Emeute #Nutella pic.twitter.com/UoNTmK78eE
— •KENNY LE BON• (@kennyLebon) 25 января 2018 г.
"They are like animals. A woman had her hair pulled, an elderly lady took a box on her head, another had a bloody hand. It was horrible," a customer at the Rive-de-Gier supermarket in central France told Le Progres newspaper.
Police called in after a 70% discount on Nutella caused violent scenes in France, injuring several people pic.twitter.com/z6V7zYj8Zn
— BNO News (@BNONews) 26 января 2018 г.
A shop worker reportedly even got a black eye after trying to separate people.
Après le Nutella 😮😍 pic.twitter.com/2wwLFAcIf1
— Ah gars on est la hein (@gars_on) 26 января 2018 г.
The Daily Star quoted a shop employee as saying, "Some customers came the night before the promotions to stash the Nutella pots in other places, and thus prevent others from taking them."
Twitter users have been quick to react to the news, questioning whether Nutella was worth fighting over.
Voir des personnes se battre dans tous les intermarchés de France pour un pot de #Nutella en promotion en dit long sur l'état de notre société actuelle.
— Anne-Sophie Frigout (@asfrigout) 26 января 2018 г.
C'est la bêtise qui est ici guidée par le règne de l'individualisme.
Liberté — Egalité — Fraternité?
Seeing people fighting in all the French markets for a pot of #Nutella on sale says a lot about the state of our current society. It is stupidity that we are guided by the reign of individualism. Freedom — Equality — Fraternity?
Hallucinant!! C’est quand même pas un produit de 1ere nécessité!
— BéA ✨ (@BeA_TSTM) 26 января 2018 г.
Même en Pologne dans les années 80 les gens qui subissaient les tickets de rationnement ne se comportaient pas comme ça! #LesGensSontFous 🙄#Intermarche#Nutella
Hallucinating!! It's still not a product of first necessity! Even in Poland in the 80's, people who were on ration tickets did not behave like that!
Just heard that story on the Today programme. I mean, I like Nutella, but I wouldn't punch a pensioner to grab an extra jar.
— ❄queeninthenorth❄ (@Queen_int_North) 26 января 2018 г.
Bizarre. It's just Nutella!
— ChrisInParis (@ChrisInParis) 26 января 2018 г.
Le truc c'est pas passé pour le Nutella mais pour la remise,
— Predator (@bougsankonbine) 26 января 2018 г.
Il s'était passé la même chose aux Antilles pour du poulet ou des Burgers aux Philippines
The thing is not for the Nutella but for the discount, It had happened the same in the West Indies for chicken or Burgers in the Philippines
This is the most French story I have ever heard.
— Nicos (@constantsceptic) 26 января 2018 г.
Nutella 'riots' spread across French supermarkets — https://t.co/Ew3P6zyCbb
Some seemed to have understood what was it all about.
Nous somme la Nutella Nation
— WiLMAU (₩‽‽‽) (@wilmaufactory) 26 января 2018 г.
We are the Nutella Nation
I'd definitely pull someone's hair for 70% off Nutella. 😂 #nutellariots https://t.co/2IbA8ezZ5L
— Andrea Winn (@arwinn1) 26 января 2018 г.
Clearly they love their Nutella like kiwis love Marmite! Remember the Great Marmite Shortage, the panic buying and the black market that sprang up? Crazy times 😄
— Michelle Edgerley (@MichelleEdgerle) 26 января 2018 г.
The French are reportedly well known Nutella-lovers as they consume some 100 million jars a year.