M&S asks small ice cream parlour to change name of Percy Pig product

The ice cream is now called Notorious P.I.G.

The shop has now renamed it the “Notorious P.I.G” ice cream (Fabio’s Gelato)

An ice cream parlour has rebranded its Percy Pig product after M&S asked the shop to stop using a name similar to its popular sweet.

Fabio’s Gelato had only been making its new Percy Pig flavour for a week when owner Fabio Vicenti received a letter from M&S.

The retailer made clear that while Mr Vicenti was welcome to keep making ice cream with their product, he could not keep calling it Perky Pig Gelato.

It asked for the shop to confirm within two weeks that the name had been changed so it does not use the Percy Pig name or anything similar to it.

After briefly being changed to 'Fabio's Pigs', the shop has now renamed it the "Notorious P.I.G" ice cream after a customer competition to find the best name.

The ice cream shop, based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, makes a variety of special ice cream flavours using branded products, including energy drinks and even Marmite.

Posting on Facebook after receiving a letter from M&S, Fabio’s Gelato said: “Soooooo about that Gelato we made... It’s got a new name ‘Fabios Pig’. M&S put a stop to the original name we used, but they were kind enough to send us some bags of those pink pigs to sweeten the deal.”

It added: “Aldi UK can we call it leo the lion moving forward?”

The M&S letter photographed stated: “Percy Pig is one of our ‘hero’ brands and we own trade marks to protect it.

“We risk losing those trade marks (and more importantly to us, consumers will no longer be confident Percy Pig-branded products originate from M&S) if we do not take steps to stop others from using them without our permission.”

The letter stressed M&S wanted to resolve the issue “amicably” and suggested that Mr Vicenti change the name to something like Pig Faces or Pig Sweets.

Vicenti turned to social media to ask for suggestions for a new name, offering a voucher to whoever came up with the best name. Alongside the eventual winner Notorious P.I.G, other suggestions included Pigs in Gelato, Piggylicious, and Piggy McPigface.

A spokesperson for M&S told The Independent: “Percy Pig is the nation’s favourite pig and he’s careful to only put his name on official M&S products.

“It’s flattering that he’s inspired Fabio’s new gelato and we hope they enjoy the treat we sent.”