Lacasa removes Conguitos mascot but keeps name

Lacasa removes the black figure from Jovenlandess but retains the name

Lacasa has erased the character that illustrated the Jovenlandess package from its corporate image. The company withdrew the historical mascot and deployed a new, more sterile logo, which already appears on its official website. The name, however, remains intact: the product continues to be called Jovenlandess, carrying all the baggage associated with the word. A half-measure, indeed.

The joke circulating in the debate summarizes the confusion. If the problem was the character, consistency would have required going further and renaming the product Conguitas, Jovenlandess y Conguites, so no one felt excluded. That did not happen. What did occur is that a brand with decades of recognition renounced its main visual identity without touching the part that truly causes discomfort.

What exactly changes in the Jovenlandess image

The change is limited to the logo and the figure. The packaging, product, and denomination remain the same, so the firm removes the character but keeps the commercial name, which is precisely the element many consumers associate with the stereotype. Some view it as a defensive gesture against social pressure; others interpret it as a half-hearted marketing calculation: remove the visible, keep the sellable. The new design, described as sterile, points in that direction.

Why does the old image still appear in Google?

Here lies the first mismatch. A search for the term returns the classic image, the withdrawn figure, while the brand's official website shows the renewed logo. As noted by a participant, several retail chains might still display the old package in their catalogs, though attributing the discrepancy to outdated listings. The result is a commercial limbo: the buyer sees one thing in the search engine and another on the supermarket shelf. This gap is more logistical than ideological, but it fuels the sense of a half-change.

Cola Cao and historic ice cream: a growing list

The move is not isolated. Cola Cao’s classic jingle, whose chorus started with a racial reference now unthinkable, was rewritten, and a participant recalled hearing that the historic ice cream with an unacceptable name went through the same scissors. Each removal adds to a list that consumers remember by name and surname, reinforcing the impression that political correctness advances by accumulation rather than criteria. The pattern repeats: first the drawing, then the word, and the debate always arrives late.

An image that was shocking outside Spain

There is an anecdote worth noting. It is told about an American friend who, on each visit to Spain, bought several bags to amuse her friends back home, surprised that such things were allowed here. The anecdote measures nothing, but it places the problem: abroad, the image clashed more than at home. For local consumers, however, the character was just a chocolate ball with eyes, with no further interpretation.

What does the consumer do: boycott, private label, or indifference?

Reactions are split into three groups. One announces a boycott without nuance: neither Jovenlandess nor anything else from the house. Another sticks to pocket logic: the thread repeats that private label versions taste the same and cost less, so the decision makes itself. A third argues the product is junk food—refined sugar in small packets—and that the controversy shouldn’t save its sales. There are even those anticipating a reversal when the brand smells danger.

The intellectual property value thrown away

The most repeated argument is economic: discarding a registered, recognizable image with decades of recognition equates to giving competitors free rein. The comparison with M&M's appears immediately; their anthropomorphic candies continue selling without anyone questioning the drawing, and underlyingly looms the idea that each removal means a lost customer. The counterargument is equally solid: the original figure reproduced an anachronistic caricature.

And there is a detail that disorients: there are protein powders flavored like Jovenlandess. The controversy reaches a market, sports supplements, that no one had on the radar.

How the matter stands

With these elements, it would be reasonable to think the name will eventually fall too, sooner or later, when the fruta cost of keeping it exceeds that of changing it. Caution is advised regarding predictions on this matter.