Mars Bar
The
Mars Bar or
Mars is a
chocolate bar manufactured by
Mars Incorporated. It is made of
chocolate-
malt nougat topped with a layer of
caramel and covered with
milk chocolate.
The Mars Bar formerly sold in the USA (renamed "Snickers Almond") was a slightly different product to the Mars Bars still sold in other countries, which do not contain almonds.
There are (or were) two slightly different products known as the Mars Bar. Both contained nougat topped with caramel and covered with milk chocolate. However, the product formerly sold as Mars in the USA contained almonds in the nougat, whereas the Mars still sold elsewhere does not. The chocolate bar that is known as the Mars Bar outside the USA is very similar to the bar known as
Milky Way within the United States.
[In turn (and somewhat confusingly), a different bar is sold in Europe under the name "Milky Way". This closely resembles the 3 Musketeers bar sold in North America.]For more specific details, see
International Variants below.
Mars within the USA
The Mars Bar was introduced in the
United States in
1936. It contained nougat and almonds topped with caramel and covered with milk chocolate. It remained on the market until
2000 when it was renamed the Snickers Almond bar.
Mars elsewhere
The US Milky Way, upon which the non-US Mars Bar is based, was invented by
Frank Mars in
1920.
[The Mars Story at mars.com, accessed July 23, 2006.]Peanut Free
From Summer 2006, all Mars Bars sold in
Canada are peanut free. Mars is one of the few chocolate bars in North America for which no size of the product has any trace of peanuts (another example is Nestle
Aero).
Australian recall
In July
2005, Mars Bars, along with the
Snickers bar, were recalled due to an anonymous extortion attempt against
Star City Casino in
Sydney. The extortionist claimed to have poisoned seven Mars and Snickers bars at random in
New South Wales. As a result
Masterfoods Corporation, the company that manufactures Mars Bars in Australia, recalled the entire Mars and Snickers product from store shelves in New South Wales. Nineteen people were possibly affected, with two being admitted to hospital. In the later half of August 2005 the threat to the public was deemed negligible and the bars returned to shelves and was accompanied by a state-wide advertising campaign incorporating the slogan "Feels good to be back".
Deep-Fried Mars Bar
:
For a more detailed description, see Deep-fried Mars bar.
This is a British Mars bar which has been coated with batter and deep-fried in oil or beef fat. It is a Scottish invention, and is available from most Scottish fish-and-chip shops.
Reformulation of UK bar
In 2002, the UK Mars Bar was reformulated and repackaged.
[Guardian Unlimited, "Mars bar", 18 March 2002, accessed July 23, 2006.] The nougat was made lighter, the chocolate on top became noticeably thinner, and the overall weight of the bar was reduced slightly. This brought it closer in style to the European
Milky Way and the North American 3 Musketeers bars. The packaging was also redesigned with a less-bold and more cursive logo. The famous slogan "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" was also replaced with "Pleasure you can't measure".
[Everything2 "Mars bar" article by Arieh, accessed July 23, 2006.]The reasoning behind this was to increase its "treat" appeal to the female market; previously, Mars had been associated with a somewhat masculine and sporty image.
In the UK and some areas of Europe, limited edition Mars Bars have occasionally gone on sale. One of these has been the Mars Midnight, which has the same filling as a normal Mars Bar but is covered in dark chocolate. Several of these limited lines were normally available products in the Australian market. Some of the Limited Edition Mars Bars have been:
*Mars Almond
*Mars Dark and Light
*Mars Midnight Ice Cream
*Mars Midnight
*Mars Mini Eggs (Available around
easter)
*
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Mars BarOther products have also been released using the Mars branding.
*Mars Delight
*Mars Drink
*Mars Ice Cream
Custom packaging
*Original Mars in "Believe" packaging
** Sold in the
UK from
April 18,
2006 until the end of the
2006 FIFA World Cup in July. "Believe" took prominence on the packaging ("Original Mars" appeared in smaller print) to indicate support for the
England football team. This, however, reduced the popularity of Mars Bars in other countries of the United Kingdom due to the rivalry with England.
The Mars Bar has many variants which contain different ingredients in different countries.
Former
"A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" - United Kingdom (pre-
2002, compare with current Canadian slogan)
"Feels good to be back! " - Australia (
2005)
Current
"A Mars Bar a day at work, rest and play" - Canada
"Pleasure you can't measure" - UK
"Out of this world!" - Australia, UK, Europe
"Legend" - Australia
*Rock group
The Undertones released a song called "Mars Bars", which has several references to the product. The then-current UK (and US) advertising slogan "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" is incorporated into the song's lyrics.
*When an advertising agency coined the above phrase, one of its employees was
Murray Walker, later famous as a
motor racing commentator. The phrase is often erroneously attributed to him, although in reality it was merely his decision to use it.
*
Jamie Farr of the television show
M*A*S*H endorsed the US Mars bar in commercials during the
1980s.
*During
Operation Red Dawn (December
2003), in which the U.S. military captured former
Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein, they apparently found a stash of Mars Bars near the former president.
*Legend says that when London police raided a
Rolling Stones party in the 1960s, they found lead singer
Mick Jagger eating a Mars Bar from between girlfriend
Marianne Faithfull's legs.
* In the book Total Recall, Hauser's briefcase was full of Mars Bars. He fed them to rats to mislead the bad guys.
*The terrorists in
Die Hard (
1988) are shown throughout the movie eating Mars Bars and drinking
Coca-Cola, perhaps a sign of
product placement.
