“Protects heart and wallet”

In protest against Kaffee Hag’s domination of the market, Gottlieb Duttweiler launched Kaffee Zaun in 1931. The name, packaging and even the advertising for Migros’ decaffeinated coffee was clearly meant as an affront to the competition.

After the stock exchange crash in October 1929, commodity coffee prices also collapse. In an advertisement, Gottlieb Duttweiler writes: “Dear Kaffee Hag! You should protect not only the nerves and heart of the people, but also their wallets a little.” With this line, he not only expands the well-known advertising slogan ‘Protects heart and wallet’, which reflects Migros’ saving philosophy, he also asks the Kaffee Hag company to reduce the price of its product. And, in fact, Ludwig Roselius, the inventor of decaffeinated coffee and owner of Kaffee Hag, orders a price reduction.
But Duttweiler cannot ignore the market-dominated, monopoly-like status of Kaffee Hag. In 1931, he makes the surprising announcement that “after many years of preliminary studies and experiments” the high quality, decaffeinated Kaffee Zaun has been developed. It is produced by Haco AG in Gümligen, which also supplies Migros with Eimalzin and Toro stock cubes.

The launch of Kaffee Zaun is a deliberate provocation by Gottlieb Duttweiler: the name clearly plays on that of his competitor’s product (Zaun and Hag both mean ‘fence’ in Swiss German). The packaging shows an anchor instead of a lifebelt, and Migros’ advertising slogan – ‘good for your heart and your wallet’ – is deceptively similar. And, as if this is all a funny, childish prank, Max and Moritz, two famous, naughty cartoon character boys, grin from behind a garden fence on the Migros poster. Duttweiler teases Kaffee Hag: “We of course expect that as a fearless large company, you will tackle us head on.”
In fact, Ludwig Roselius is known at that time to be a fearless competitor. Only a short time before, he managed, with a legal avalanche, to have a newly launched decaffeinated coffee called Rival removed from the market. However, he hesitates to take up the gauntlet thrown down by Duttweiler, Although he doubtless would win the process against Migros, he is afraid of creating a bad image for Kaffee Hag. Other processes against Migros have shown that although most judgements go against Duttweiler, he comes out of the battle as the moral winner. Only in 1937 does Roselius give in to the provocation by Duttweiler and submit a claim in respect of unfair competition.