Turns out printing ‘ISIS’ all over your candy bar wrappers is terrible for business

You don't normally associate a chocolate maker with an international terrorist group.

But when the company is called ISIS, it’s only natural that customers might wonder if there’s a connection.

Such is the awkward situation for Belgium chocolate maker ISIS, which made the ill-timed decision earlier this year to change its name from Italo Suisse to the acronym of the better known Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which is now calls itself the Islamic State. 

As news about the hyper-violent Islamic militant group began dominating international headlines earlier this year, customers of the chocolate-making ISIS started going elsewhere for their sweet fix.

The backlash over its name has been so severe that ISIS, which has been making chocolate since 1923, has decided to sweeten its image by changing its name again, this time to Libeert, which is the surname of the company’s owners.

"Exceptional circumstances (bad luck!) leads the company to change its name again,” ISIS marketing manager Desiree Libeert said in a statement.

“The negative connotations of recent events in the Middle East make the choice for ‘ISIS’ impossible to keep.”

Libeert told Reuters the company had settled on the name ISIS because it is the same name as its praline and tablet chocolates. 

"Had we known there was a terrorist organization with the same name, we would have never chosen that," Libeert said.

"We had international customers saying that they could no longer stock our chocolate as consumers had only negative associations with the name."

Which isn’t surprising given the shocking acts of brutality carried out by ISIS fighters.

What is surprising, though, is that no one at the company appears to have done a quick Google search to make sure the new name didn’t have any negative associations.

But this is hardly the first time an organization has made a marketing blunder so big that it defies belief not a single person inside the company noticed. 

On Wednesday, Swiss supermarket chain Migros issued a groveling apology after it emerged that one of its suppliers had made tiny tubs of coffee creamer bearing the images of Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler and his Italian fascist counterpart Benito Mussolini on the tin-foil lids.

Migros had distributed the now controversial capsules, which were part of a series displaying the images of historic cigar bands, to restaurants and cafes. The lids are popular among Swiss collectors. 

"We formally apologize for this inexcusable mistake," Migros said.

But Karo-Versand, the now sacked supplier of the creamer pots, was unapologetic.

“Of course, it was bad, what happened under Hitler, but you cannot ignore this part of history,” Karo-Versand Managing Director Peter Waelchli was quoted as saying.

“I have no problem with the images, but I can understand it concerns certain people.”

Really? You think?

In August, Spanish retailer Zara apologized in several languages after outraged social media users pointed out that a new line of blue-and-white striped kids shirts featuring a large yellow star looked similar to the uniforms worn in Nazi concentration camps.

A deeply embarrassed Zara quickly pulled the shirts from its online store and promised to have them "reliably destroyed."