BOTH Swiss-based food manufacturer Nestle and ad agency J. Walter Thompson have apologised for the Kit Kat advert placed in the Hongkong press last week which played on the Prince and Princess of Wales' marital split.
The ad - a picture of Charles and Diana ignoring each other and captioned with the slogan ''Have a break, have a Kit Kat'' - appeared in the territory on one day only, both in the South China Morning Post and a Chinese newspaper, but news of it quickly spread to England, where tabloids made great play of it.
Nestle, the maker of Kit Kat (which happens to be the UK's favourite chocolate bar) was forced to admit yesterday that the advert was ''in bad taste'' and would be discontinued.
However, Grace Atkinson, chairman of the agency in Hongkong and China, said the advert was only ever scheduled to be a ''one-off''.
''It was meant to be a totally innocent gesture of goodwill,'' she added. ''It is the Kit Kat line, and we certainly didn't make it up to be offensive.'' But Francois Perroud, spokesman for Nestle, said the advert was not in line with the group's policy. ''We have a family-orientated product which likes to be rather low-key in advertising,'' he said.
''It is quite clear that playing on the misfortunes of other people is not our style. This was a mistake.'' He added that the campaign was devised in Hongkong and had not been viewed or approved by executives at the Vevey headquarters.
Meanwhile, Atkinson said: ''We were dismayed people took it the wrong way. And to those people who were offended we would like to say sorry.
