By Waikhom Chitradhani
Imphal ( Manipur), April 22 : After misrepresenting Manipur’s Keibul Lamjao National Park as being located in Meghalaya in a chocolate product KitKat’s wrapper, the netizens of Manipur erupted in protest calling out Nestle, the company which produces the product, on social media platforms today.
In this regard, Dr AK Joshi Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) & Chief Wildlife Warden Government of Manipur wrote a complaint letter to Samh Narayanan CMD Head Office, Nestle House about the misrepresentation and factual error.
As a marketing tool, Nestle launched a marketing campaign with the tag “discover your own local #travelbreaks”. Famous places of the country are depicted on the wrapper of KitKat with some description.
In the letter, Dr AK Joshi pointed out a serious factual error regarding one of their products.
“We have come across a wrapping paper for Nestle-Kit Kat Chocolate which mentions the name of Keibul Lamjao National Park but indicates it’s location Meghalaya, which is grossly incorrect. Keibul Lamjao National Park, the only floating National Park in the world is situated in Manipur, towards the south-western part of the world famous Loktak Lake in Bishnupur District of Manipur,” it stated.
This gross misrepresentation of facts which is protested by the authorities concerned in the State of Manipur. Moreover, the picture being displayed above the word Keibul Lamjao National Park is a picture of Red Panda (Ailurus fulgest), a species which is not found in Keibul Lamjao National Park, Manipur. This appears to be an irresponsible act on the part of Nestle company, who apparently have allowed this without venlying the facts, the letter stated.
“I am utterly dismayed and disappointed at this blunder on part of your marketing lees. These kinds of basic errors are not expected from a prestigious and reputed company of your standard. Unfortunately, we cannot help but send this letter of complaint hoping for a fast and adequate redressal. I hope you agree with me that this is not acceptable under any circumstances. I trust that you will deal with this at the earliest possible. I also hope that you will take necessary precautions to prevent such incidents”, the letter added.
It is worth mentioning that Keibul Lamjao national park is the world’s only floating wildlife sanctuary. Known for the patches and rings of biomass called phumdis, the park is a wetland ecosystem. And it is home to the last of the Sangai, brow-antlered deer (Rucervus eldii eldii), one of the most endangered deer in the world.
