Over the last few days, you must have seen your newsfeed filled with photos of caterpillar cakes and the hashtag #freecuthbert and #savecolin ,but what exactly is this scandal, and why is it happening now?

Who did it first

Since the first caterpillar cake was sold by M&S in 1990, more than 15 million have been sold, and M&S even sell a whole variety of Colin products, including different-sized cakes and snacks, and even merchandise! However, the classic £7 Colin the Caterpillar Cake could be under threat by the £4.99 Cuthbert Caterpillar cake, as M&S is taking Aldi to court.

Credit: Reddit

Why legal action now?

M&S is now suing Aldi, saying that Cuthbert is a copy of their caterpillar cake, Colin, and that the similarities are suggesting that they are of the same standard, despite their different prices.

M&S have made an intellectual property claim with the High Court, as they believe that Aldi has infringed their trademark. M&S are demanding that Aldi stop selling Cuthbert and don’t sell anything similar in the future.

They believe that Colin the Caterpillar is iconic, and it’d distinctive character belongs to them. M&S have also launched Connie the Caterpillar, as well as seasonal versions of Colin for Christmas, Halloween and even Easter.

M&S have three trademarks in relation to their novelty caterpillar, with the original Colin the Caterpillar cake barely changing over the years; if only we could all age that well.

M&S have also said that they have not ruled out the possibility of pursuing other retailers that have their own variation of Colin as well.

However, whilst the matter seems serious, it is hard to take it seriously as Aldi have been seriously trolling M&S on Twitter. Take a look at some of their best tweets!

I think we can all agree that whoever is running the Aldi Twitter account deserves a raise, as the Tweets are definitely the best thing to come out of the case so far.

What does the public think?

Many members of the public are confused about the M&S lawsuit, as whilst they did create the original caterpillar cake, every supermarket seems to have its own version of the iconic caterpillar cake. Asda even went above and beyond and created a sausage dog cake! Yet despite this, M&S have their sights set on Aldi, but who knows who they will go after next. It could be Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s or Morrison’s, so quick eat the evidence!

In light of the case, people have found themselves buying caterpillar cakes from stores across the nation to see if one of them is the best.

Plus, the internet has become filled with memes about the case, so why not have a look at The top 10 memes from the Colin vs Cuthbert case?

What will happen to Cuthbert?

Aldi stopped selling Cuthbert in their stores back in February ahead of the lawsuit with M&S, but we are expecting to see a return of Cuthbert in the stores, with all the profits going to charity. This news comes after further tweets from Aldi.

This was a smart move by Aldi, as M&S are keen supporters of Macmillan, a partnership that Colin the Caterpillar has been described as central to.

If only Twitter could solve all problems, but the real question now though, is who’s side are you on? #savecolin or #freecuthbert?