Toblerone produces seven billion chocolate bars a year, with 97 percent exported to 120 countries.
They are ubiquitous at airport duty-free shops around the world, where one bar is sold every two seconds, according to Mondelez.
The name is a play on words from Tobler and "torrone" -- the Italian name for honey-almond nougat.
The Tribune de Geneve newspaper debated whether it was "commercial suicide" for Toblerone.
But Michael Kamm, owner of the communications agency Trio, said the brand was "very well established aside from its logo", telling the daily that its shape, colours and letters were "emblematic and recognisable among a thousand".
Fribourg University marketing professor Olivier Furrer added: "The Matterhorn is especially important for Swiss consumers, because it is a matter of pride.
"We may be offended by this change. But foreigners might not even notice."
The news comes after Swiss pride took another hit last week.
A US appeals court ruled Friday that in the United States, the word "gruyere" is a common label for cheese and cannot be reserved just for the kind made originally in France or Switzerland, where the medieval town of Gruyeres is located.
"Cheese and chocolate are among the flagship products of the Swiss food industry," Olivier Perrin wrote in an opinion piece published Monday by the Le Temps newspaper.
"It is therefore, for many, a shock" to find that Gruyere "can now be anything" and Toblerone is dropping the Matterhorn.
"Re-ouch."
Source: AFP
