Scottish Nationalists Are Boycotting These Tea Cakes

Scots are pretty proud of their national food output. Understandable when your country is responsible for world-renowned whiskey, salmon, and steak (just don't mention the deep-fried Mars bar).

The full extent of this culinary patriotism became clear this week when Scottish biscuit company Tunnock's controversially declared one of their best-loved products as British.

For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of breathlessly unwrapping the tin foil casing of a Tunnock's tea cake, the snack is made up of a shortbread base, topped with a mound of marshmallowy meringue enshrined in a thin casing of milk chocolate.

As well as being undeniably delicious, the tea cakes are also seen by many as an iconic Scottish snack: produced in Lanarkshire since 1890 and sold in boxes that prominently feature a Scottish lion.

Not according to Tunnock's though, who have just unveiled a new advertising campaign for the tea cakes, which features on the London Underground. In these new posters, the Scottish lion is missing and the snack is referred to as "Tunnock's Great British tea cake."

Shots fired, Tunnock's.

This rebranding of the tea cake as a British good, rather than a Scottish classic hasn't gone down well with pro-independence Scots. As the Guardian reports, many have taken to social media to voice their outrage, with Twitter users adopting the hashtag #BoycottTunnocks and Scottish nationalist Facebook group Boycott The Companies That Scared Scotland posting a status that said: "Tunnocks are ditching the lion rampant from their branding stating they are not a Scottish biscuit, they are a Great British biscuit. This is the second time this company have pissed on Scotland after funding a No vote in 2014. [sic]"

Tunnock's managing director Boyd Tunnock, who campaigned for Scotland to remain as part of the UK during the recent referendum, has admitted to changing the tea cakes' branding.

He told the Daily Record: "You've got [TV baking show] The Great British Bake Off and things like that these days. We could have said Scottish but you're then promoting Scotland. We're British. The vote said we're British. We're Scottish, however, we're still in Britain. Down south, people wouldn't know [the tea cake] as Scottish."

While the rebrand may have caused a storm in a teacup (alright, tea cake), 82-year-old Tunnock, who is the grandson of company founder Thomas Tunnock, doesn't seem fazed. Speaking again to the Daily Record today, he said that sales of the cake were up thanks to the free publicity generated by social media outrage, and pointed out that the beloved lion still features on packaging—even south of the border.

He explained: "We still have the lion rampant on the box. The advert we put in London was a sort of spoof of the British Bake Off. Maybe like Scotch whiskey, if you just called it whiskey, then it could come from any place in the world. We're only just a small family business and we make 100 tonnes of chocolate a week in Scottish-made machines."

Let's hope the lion is rampant enough to placate those sweet-toothed Scottish nationalists.