Supermarket Cuts Price of Nutella, Riots Ensue

In scenes reminiscent of Black Friday—or possibly Brown Friday—violence erupted in supermarkets across France Thursday after a chain offered a discount on Nutella that may have been a little too steep. Shoppers jostled, pushed, and brawled in an effort to grab pots of chocolate hazelnut spread that had been reduced from the equivalent of $5.60 to around $1.75, the AP reports. "They are like animals," a shopper in central France said, per the BBC. "A woman had her hair pulled, an elderly lady took a box on her head, another had a bloody hand."

"Seriously? All this for Nutella?" asked one man who tweeted a video of people scrambling for the spread. Police were called to at least one branch of the Intermarche supermarket. An employee at one branch said that workers who tried to calm things down were pushed by rowdy customers, who cleaned out the store's supply in less than 15 minutes, reports CNBC. In a statement, Nutella maker Ferrero stressed that the "promotion was decided unilaterally by the brand Intermarche." (The hordes may have been unaware that Nutella changed its recipe last year.)