Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Join thousands of readers who support our workBECOME A MEMBER
The Schmooze

Say It With Nutella — Unless You’re Jewish

Courtesy of Nutella

You might want to reconsider those Nutella-filled hamentaschen this year.

The beloved purveyor of spreadable chocolate hazelnut goodness has banned certain words from its “Say it With Nutella” campaign, which allows people to customize their jar labels. This policy would be totally understandable if the list of so-called inappropriate words didn’t also include “Jewish,” “lesbian,” and “Muslim,” alongside reasonable options like “Hitler,” “poop” and various controversial sex acts.

For some reason, “Gay” and “Christian,” are both good to go.

In a statement, Ferrero (Nutella’s parent company) said that “negative or insulting messages were directly removed from the field of possibilities, the idea being to use the jar of Nutella as a communication medium to share enthusiasm … similarly, words of communities that are often subject to attacks by malicious people were removed from the proposals.”

For the record, “palm oil,” the controversial fat that makes Nutella taste like heaven on toast, is also banned.

Click here for the full list of banned words.

[h/t Grubstreet]

Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief

You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.

And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.