Nutella bans ‘Jewish,’ ‘Muslim’ from online ad campaign

The Italian brand Nutella is under fire after users found they could not customize their messages as part of the company’s online marketing campaign. Among the words barred included the word “Jewish”.

A report by Pink News, a European gay news outlet, also found that the site prevented users from selecting the words “lesbian,” “Muslim,” “cancer,” “diabetes,” “boycott,” “palm oil” and “orangutan.”

The words “Christian” and “gay,” however, are permitted.

The French marketing campaign “Say it with Nutella” lets enthusiasts design and share virtual jars of the popular chocolate spread on social media sites.

The brand’s use of palm oil has long been challenged by environmentalists and animal rights activists who claim the practice threatens the habitat of orangutans, as its cultivation had led to widespread destruction of Indonesian rainforests.

It wasn’t clear why “Jewish” was banned.

Ferrero, the Nutella brand’s parent company, issued a statement in an effort to address the controversy.

“The 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,” the statement read.

“Similarly, words of communities that are often subject to attacks by malicious people were removed from the proposals,” the company added.