What lengths would you go to for 70 percent off Nutella? It turns out that the French take their hazelnut cocoa spread very seriously, as stories of “Nutella riots” began to spread online across the country.
Videos showed mobs of people pushing and shoving their way to the Nutella jars, making French supermarkets look like crazy Black Friday scenes.
French outlet Le Progres reported that the supermarket company Intermarché slashed Nutella prices from €4.50 to €1.41, causing “riot scenes everywhere.”
An Intermarché employee told Le Progres his location sold more Nutella in one day than what the store typically sells in three months, and that he had never seen anything like it in his sixteen years with the company.
People were crying, scuffling and throwing themselves at other customers who were grabbing whole pallets of Nutella, Le Progres reports. “They are like animals,” a customer at an Intermarché in Rive-de-Gier told Le Progres. “A woman had her hair pulled, an elderly lady took a box on her head, another had a bloody hand. It was horrible.”
The police were called to at least three supermarket locations, according to NPR. There are reports that stores tried to ration the Nutella and minimize damage once the riots began but to no avail.
Just remember: this was all to save €3.
