Some Lyle Golden Syrup products will no longer feature a lion’s carcass surrounded by bees (Picture: Shutterstock)
Lyle’s Golden Syrup is changing its iconic logo for the first time in over 140 years.
Since 1883, packaging for the syrup has featured a dead lion surrounded by bees, but the manufacturers have decided to ditch the image on its squeezy bottle.
The new design features a friendly lion’s face and a single bee, which the manufacturers say will appeal to a ’21st century audience’.
The slogan that sits under the original image ‘Out of the stinging came forth sweetness’, has also been cut.
Other Lyle’s Golden Syrup products, such as its Golden Syrup Cake, will also feature the new look, however the classic tins will remain unchanged.
The original design and slogan, chosen by the syrup’s Scottish founder Abram Lyle, refers to a story about Samson from the book of Judges in the Bible.
In it, Samson was travelling to the land of the Philistines to find a wife. On the way he killed a lion and when he returned to the same spot, he noticed a swarm of bees had created a honeycomb in the animal’s carcass.
Lyle’s Golden Syrup’s new logo that will feature on al its products except the tins (Picture Lyle’s Golden Syrup)
The slogan is based on a riddle Samson tells at his wedding: ‘Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness.’
Not everyone is a fan of the new design. Robert Bargery, from the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust, told MailOnline: ‘The redrawn lion is so stylised as to lack clarity at first glance, whereas the old lion is clearly a lion: it is what it looks like on the tin.’
Taking on the style of the biblical slogan, Ian Mansfield, who runs the ianVisits website, joked on X: ‘And in the Gospel of St Marketing, the peoples of the land of kitchen, having worshipped the everlasting sign of the Golden Syrup, shall turn unto a new god, a new logo is revealed, and great lamentation was heard throughout the land. Oh, syrup, why hast thou forsaken us?’
An early advert for Lyle’s Golden Syrup (Picture: SWNS)
In 2010, the firm that manufactured the syrup, Tate and Lyle Sugars was sold to US company American Sugar Refining (ASF).
James Whiteley, brand director for Lyle’s Golden Syrup, said: ‘While we’ll continue to honour our original branding with the heritage tin, consumers need to see brands moving with the times and meeting their current needs.
‘Our fresh, contemporary design brings Lyle’s into the modern day, appealing to the everyday British household while still feeling nostalgic and authentically Lyle’s.’
Guinness World Records confirmed in 2007 that Lyle’s Golden Syrup had the oldest unchanged brand packaging.
The brand was started by Scotsman Abram Lyle in 1881 (Picture: Flickr)
Meanwhile, Pepsi has a new look and it’s leaving shoppers confused.
The soft drink launched its redesign in the US last year, before it hit the shelves in the UK this month.
But several people have taken to social media to say they thought supermarkets had tried to pass off their own brands as Pepsi, not realising the design had been changed.
One, @betthbeth wrote on Instagram: ‘I saw this in Aldi and I couldn’t believe the cheek of Aldi ripping off Pepsi max so bad until my boyfriend told me it was the new design.’
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