Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Kraft Foods Inc. will change the name of its new, milder version of Vegemite after its first choice, iSnack2.0, caused a storm of complaints from Australian consumers.

“The new name has simply not resonated with Australians,” said Simon Talbot, Kraft’s corporate affairs head for Australia and New Zealand, in an e-mailed statement today. “Particularly the modern technical aspects associated with it. We have been overwhelmed by the passion for Vegemite.”

Australian and New Zealand consumers will vote to decide on iSnack2.0’s new moniker and Kraft will announce details of the process on Oct. 2, according to the statement. The original Vegemite remains on sale.

Vegemite, a dark, pungent spread made from yeast extract, has been in Australian kitchen cupboards since 1923 and cemented its status as a national icon when it was referenced in Men At Work’s hit song “Down Under” in the early 1980s. The unveiling of iSnack2.0 on Sept. 26, after a nationwide competition that furnished nearly 50,000 suggestions, roused indignation amongst Vegemite lovers, with thousands expressing disapproval on blogs, social networking sites and videos uploaded to YouTube.

“Sounds like a circuit board on toast,” one disapproving commenter said on the Food Week Web site.

Kraft has some 500,000 jars of the iSnack2.0-labeled product in warehouses in Sydney and Melbourne, which started arriving on supermarket shelves today, Talbot said in a phone interview from Melbourne this morning.

“Consumers like the taste; they just don’t like the name,” Kraft said in today’s statement.

iSnack2.0 will remain on sale until the vote is completed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McDonald in Sydney at smcdonald23@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 30, 2009 01:36 EDT