Last Updated on July 6, 2026
Trended no.1 twice
130,000 new followers in 3 days
35M+ organic TikTok views
£5m+ equivalent earned media
The move
In April 2021, Marks and Spencer filed an intellectual property claim in the High Court, arguing that Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake copied its own Colin the Caterpillar. A serious commercial dispute, with lawyers, filings and real money at stake. Aldi treated it as a gift.
Instead of issuing a careful legal statement, Aldi’s social team started posting. It parodied the famous M&S line with ‘This is not just any court case, this is… a court case’, launched the hashtag #FreeCuthbert, and mocked up packaging showing Cuthbert behind bars. The hashtag trended at number one on UK Twitter twice, and the story ran in every national paper.
Then Aldi did something smarter than a joke. It released a limited edition Cuthbert with all profits going to Teenage Cancer Trust under #CaterpillarsForCancer, and invited the other supermarket caterpillars along. Four rival supermarkets joined in. The legal row quietly settled in February 2022 on confidential terms, and Cuthbert returned to shelves that May with a redesigned face and a bowtie.
By Aldi’s own campaign figures, #FreeCuthbert generated over 500 million social impressions and the equivalent of more than £5m in media spend, with zero paid media behind it. Aldi’s Twitter following grew from 440,000 to 570,000 in three days. Those numbers come from Aldi’s award entry, so treat them as the brand’s own scorecard, but the trending charts and front pages were there for everyone to see.
Why it worked
Aldi understood something most brands forget when they are attacked: the audience does not care who is legally right. They care who is more likeable. By refusing to sound like a corporation defending itself, and instead sounding like a cheeky underdog being picked on by a bigger rival, Aldi flipped a threat into the most affectionate brand moment of its year.
The charity move mattered more than it looked. Jokes alone can curdle into smugness. Giving the profits away, and inviting competitors to join, made Aldi the generous one in a fight it did not start. Sentiment tracking in the campaign’s award entry showed positive sentiment up 8.5% and purchase consideration up 6.8%.
None of it would have been possible if Aldi had needed three sign-off meetings per tweet. The brand voice was already settled, and the social team was already trusted to act. That is the part worth copying.
The principle
When a bigger competitor comes after you, do not match their tone. Match your customers’ sense of humour. People instinctively root for the underdog who keeps smiling, and they remember the brand that stayed generous under pressure.
Steal this
You do not need a lawsuit to use this. You need readiness, and a sense of proportion.
Settle your brand voice before you need it. Aldi could move in hours because how Aldi sounds was never up for debate. Write down how your business speaks, and what it would never say, while things are calm.
Decide now who can press send. Sign-off paralysis kills every reactive moment. Agree in advance who is trusted to respond publicly without a committee, and what the boundaries are.
Respond as a human, not a press release. When your business is criticised or compared unfavourably to a bigger name, a calm reply with a sense of perspective wins more goodwill than a defensive statement ever will.
Add a generous move. Aldi turned a spat into a charity moment and invited its rivals in. If your reactive joke also does something kind, it stops being pointscoring and starts being a story people want to share.
Sources & further reading
- Masters Awards: Aldi’s #FreeCuthbert · Marketing Week
- #FreeCuthbert takes Grand Prix at The Drum Awards · The Drum
- M&S and Aldi settle Colin the Caterpillar row · ITV News
The Whito verdict
Aldi turned a High Court claim into 500 million impressions, a charity story and the year’s most affectionate brand moment, and it never once pretended the lawsuit was not happening. The wit gets the credit, but the real asset was readiness: a settled voice, a trusted team, and no sign-off paralysis.
For a smaller UK business the lesson is not the jokes. It is the plumbing. Decide how you sound and who can press send before someone hands you a moment, so you can take it in hours, not weeks.
Build Stage
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Frequently asked questions
What actually happened between Aldi and M&S over Cuthbert the Caterpillar?
In April 2021 M&S filed a High Court intellectual property claim arguing that Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake copied its Colin the Caterpillar. Aldi responded with the #FreeCuthbert social campaign, which trended at number one on UK Twitter twice. The case settled confidentially in February 2022 and Cuthbert returned to shelves with a redesigned face.
What results did #FreeCuthbert get?
By Aldi’s own campaign figures, over 500 million social impressions, 130,000 new Twitter followers in three days, 35 million organic TikTok views and earned media worth more than £5m, all with no paid spend. It also won the Grand Prix at The Drum Awards for Social Media in 2021.
What can a small business learn from #FreeCuthbert?
When you are challenged in public, tone matters more than legal position. A calm, human, slightly humorous reply usually beats a defensive corporate one, and a generous move, like Aldi’s charity cake, turns a spat into a story people share. Settle your voice and sign-off rules before you need them.
