Shares in Turkish Confectioner Tumble After April Fools’ Day Ad Deemed Unfunny

Ulker Biskuvi falls 4.7% after advertisement gets bad reaction
The commercial tapped into ‘societal unease’: Prime Minister

Chocolate wait to be sorted into boxes at Jacques Torres Chocolate's Brooklyn factory in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014.
Photographer: Ron Antonelli/Bloomberg

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By Tugce Ozsoy and Ercan Ersoy

April 3, 2017 at 9:24 AM UTC

Updated on

April 3, 2017 at 2:06 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Shares in the sister company of Godiva Chocolatier Inc. plunged in Istanbul after an April Fools’ Day-themed commercial went wrong.

The confectioner, Ulker Biskuvi AS, faced an immediate and intense backlash to its 50-second animated clip, as it fell foul of tensions that have riven the nation since July’s failed coup attempt.