The longstanding rivalry between British supermarkets and has been reignited, after M&S advertised garden furniture online, with a bottle of Aldi wine sitting on the table.
Hilariously, the blunder was spotted by Aldi’s PR team, who decided to let the world know that ‘Marks & Spencer drink Aldi wine’ by sharing the picture on social media.
Writing on X (formerly) the budget supermarket tagged their rival in a tongue-in-cheek tweet, pointing out their error.
The tweet has quickly amassed more than 160,000 views in just a few hours, racking up thousands of likes and shares from those who are finding the exchange amusing.
It comes after M&S took Aldi to court in 2021 for copying its Colin the Caterpillar cake with its ‘Cuthbert’ product with the matter eventually settled in a confidential deal between the two retailers.
The garden furniture in question is the Roma Four Seater Garden Table and Chairs set, which retails for £669 on the M&S website.
But, sitting front and centre in the middle of the wooden table is a bottle of Aldi’s Specially Selected Côtes De Provence Blanc 75cl.
‘This has won the internet debate today,’ joked one social media user, with Aldi UK replying: ‘We sure are flattered, it really is an honor to be a part of this journey’.
Others quipped: ‘Great wine, so I’m not surprised’ and ‘Oh damn! This has made my day’.
‘How do you think we felt,’ responded Aldi, alongside a laughing emoji and the hashtag #GoAllAldi.
The budget supermarket also wrote: ‘It is great wine but the shock was real, flattering though. Always knew we were secretly besties’.
‘Oh incredible,’ ‘This is hilarious!,’ and ‘Brilliant, well spotted’ added other X users in the replies.
One Aldi fan joked: ‘Maybe Marks and Spencer can bring some cake to the party?’ with a second adding: ‘This is moments before they brought out a Cuthbert’.
Another penned: ‘Marks and Spencer had to buy cheaper wine for paying way over the odds for a table and chairs!
‘Aldi wine is great, they should have bought the table and chairs from the middle aisle too!’
Another questioned: ‘Anyone spotted their reply yet? Can’t wait for this debate’.
It comes after M&S took Aldi to court in 2021 for what became a long-running legal dispute in which the former accused the discounter of copying its Colin the Caterpillar cake with its ‘Cuthbert’ product.
An undisclosed settlement eventually reached by the two grocers did not deter Aldi from going on to release an ad in which it announced it was ‘like M&S, only cheaper’, and showed rival caterpillar cakes Cuthbert and Colin breaking into a scuffle at a party.
Aldi hilariously quipped that Cuthbert was now ‘free’ following the dispute, and announced his return on billboards on a van parked outside branches of M&S.
And M&S is not the only supermarket that Aldi has poked fun at – last year, the German supermarket responded after customers took to X (formerly Twitter) to complain about Birmingham.
An image shared online showed a shelf displaying a small and large-sized jar of Kenco instant coffee priced at £5.50 and £10.50 respectively, and one large jar of Nescafe instant coffee priced at £9.35.
To make things even more bizarre the coffees were encased in GPS tracking cases on shelves.
The cases came with a caution warning shoppers they will need to be removed at checkout before leaving the store, and shoplifters will be prosecuted.
Aldi decided to make a light hearted jab and tweeted a snap of their own coffee, writing: ‘If only there was a MUCH cheaper alternative…’
They added on some shifty eyes in emoji form for good measure.
Previously, Aldi gently poked fun at McVitie’s after its Milk Chocolate Digestives were at another shop.
Shoppers hit out at the cost, with some joking they’ll ‘be a tenner next month’.
However, budget supermarket chain – known for it’s tongue-in-cheek social media team – simply responded with ‘Belmont Chocolate Digestives: 69p’.
Following this, In response to Elon Musk changing the name of Twitter to X, the squad behind the hashtag FreeCuthbert at the rebrand – cementing their reputation for poking fun at other companies.
Taking their shot, the UK Aldi team shared an image of a ‘new’ logo, writing: ‘Now launching….AldX, (It’s the same as Aldi we just fancied a change)’.
Social media followers loved the joke and rushed to heap praise on the team for light-hearted humour.
One person wrote: ‘Have to admit, this social media team is bloody funny. It’s definitely one of the best corporate accounts. I still remember the tweet about Eurovision scoring being as complicated as Tesco Clubcard prices from a few years back.’
‘You guys are hilarious!,’ added another user.
Back in November 2023 the supermarket after writing an ‘open letter’ to the Great British Bake Off threatening to sue them after the show’s quarter-finalists were asked to make a caterpillar cake.
Aldi jokingly claimed the Channel 4 show breached copyright by asking bakers to make the cake – which resembles their Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake.
A Facebook post shared by the supermarket stated the show had ‘violated Cuthbert’s rights’ and asked them to ‘cease and desist’ any unlawful reference to the cake.
The open letter generated tens of thousands of ‘likes’ and thousands of comments with some describing the post as ‘hilarious’.
Earlier this month, shoppers were in uproar after a taste test ruled that the Co-op’s budget Charlie cake was better than Colin the Caterpillar.
But with hundreds coming out in support of the original version in our exclusive poll.
More than 1110 of you voted in the first seven hours of the poll with Colin easily claiming top spot with 786 votes (66 per cent).
Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar ranked second with 170 votes (14 per cent) and the Co-Op’s Charlie was third with 99 votes (eight per cent).
Cecil the Caterpillar by Waitrose scored 30 votes (three per cent) with Tesco’s Slinky the Caterpillar and Sainsbury’s Wiggles the Caterpillar tied on 29 votes (two per cent).
An M&S spokesperson said: ‘Sometimes you regret asking guests to BYOB – this one is fine for a prop but if you’d prefer to enjoy a top-quality bottle of award-winning rosé with your new garden furniture, we’d recommend our gorgeously fruity and aromatic Collection Côtes de Provence Sainte-Victoire rosé – an absolute must for lovers of pink drinks in the sunshine!’
Aldi has been approached for comment.