Shares in Turkish chocolate firm tumble

Bloomberg

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, with protesters including a government lawmaker gathering outside President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Istanbul residence over the weekend. The politician, Metin Kulunk, said the animated commercial — in which the narrator signs off with the words “now is the day of
reckoning” — was an attempt to manipulate the psychology of
80 million people.
“This nation has not and will not forget the night of the coup,” Kulunk said in comments reported by CNN-Turk television.
In a public statement on April 1, Ulker called the heated response a “defamation campaign,” and said that it would be taking legal action. The animation featured April Fools’ pranks between siblings, the company said, and was intended in a spirit of fun.
The company’s shares tumbled as much as 4.7 percent as of 12:13 p.m. local time on Monday.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim addressed the controversy in a televised interview on Saturday, calling the advertisement “inept.”