Milky Way bar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Type | Confectionery |
|---|---|
| Current owner | Mars Incorporated |
| Introduced | 1923 |
The Milky Way bar is a chocolate bar distributed by the Mars confectionery company. The American version of the Milky Way bar is made of chocolate-malt nougat topped with caramel and covered with milk chocolate and is equivalent to the Mars bar sold in other countries. The non-U.S. Milky Way bar, on the other hand, is not topped with caramel and is therefore similar to the American 3 Musketeers bar.
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[edit] American version
The Milky Way bar was created in 1923 by Frank C. Mars and originally manufactured in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the first commercially distributed filled chocolate bar. The name was taken from a famed malted milk drink of the day – not the Earth’s galaxy, as many contend.[1] Its taste was inspired by the chocolate-malt milkshake that was popular at the time.[2] Forrest Mars, son of Frank, claims that he came up with the idea and gave it to his father.[3]
On March 10, 1925, the Milky Way trademark was registered in the US, claiming a first-use date of 1922.[4] In 1924, the Milky Way bar was introduced nationally and sold USD800,000 that year. The chocolate for the chocolate coating was supplied by Hershey's.[3]
By 1926 it had two flavours, chocolate and vanilla, each for a nickel. In June 1932, the Milky Way bar was sold as a two piece bar, but just four years later, in 1936, the chocolate and vanilla flavors forever parted.
The vanilla Milky Way bar, which was covered in dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate, was renamed the Forever Yours bar. The Forever Yours bar remained available until 1979 when it was discontinued. Due to popular demand, the Forever Yours bar returned in 1989 renamed as the Milky Way Dark bar. In 2000, it was renamed again, creating the now-popular Milky Way Midnight bar.
Mars would like to add that "In the Republic of Ireland the milky bar has always been white and Anne Mc Mahon is incorrect in saying that it was brown".
In the US, as of 2006, the slogan is, "Comfort in every bar." Previously, the long-standing slogan was, "At work, rest and play, you get three great tastes in a Milky Way."[citation needed] In 1935, it was "The sweet you can eat between meals.".[3]
[edit] European and Australian version
The European version of the bar has no caramel topping, and consists of a nougat centre that is considerably lighter than that of the Mars bar. Because of this low density (0,88 g/cm³), it will float in water (and/or in milk) without sinking. This rare attribute was used for an advertising campaign in Germany, France, Russia, Ireland, Poland and the United Kingdom in the past.
Originally available within Europe only in chocolate flavor, the center changed to vanilla flavor in 1989, although the chocolate flavor still remains available in Australia. In the UK, Mars introduced the Flyte bar which is identical to the old-style chocolate flavoured Milky Way except in shape. Also available in Europe are Milky Way Crispy Rolls, chocolate covered wafer rolls with a milk-cream filling.
There is also a product called Milky Way Stars consisting of small aerated chocolate star shapes, each used to come with a face on it, but this has been discontinued. they come in 33g packets and are marketed primarily at young children.
[edit] Marketing
A long running advertising slogan for the product in the United Kingdom and Australia was, "The sweet you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite".[5] In 1991, the Health Education Authority and anti-sugar lobbyists both complained, without success, to the ITC that such advertising encouraged children to eat sweets between meals. The ITC agreed with Mars that its advertisements in fact encouraged restrained eating.[6]
However, marketing for snack foods such as Milky Way has altered since the 1980s, with the focus now being the reverse of what it was. Instead of Milky Way and similar foods (e.g. the Cadbury Fudge) being snack foods that won't prevent one from eating normal meals, modern marketing positions these snacks as ones that will reduce hunger at mealtimes and curb the appetite in-between.[7] By 2003, sweet marketers such as Andrew Harrison of Nestle Rowntree were seeing greater acceptability of grazing, and less social stigma attached to not consuming three square meals a day, and thus the death of the old Milky Way slogan.[8]
In summer 2009 a slightly edited version of the 1980s UK advert featuring the blue car and red car was revived with the slogan, "Lighten Up And Play". However, minor lyrical changes meant that no reference to the old slogan about "not losing your appetite" was made, instead changing the lyrics from "for his appetite" to "tastes just right". Also, the word "smart" was replaced with "good". Beside lyrical changes there are view minor tweaks to the video, The sign next to the cars at the start have changed from "Lunchville" to "Playville", a signed post is changed from "Dinner town" to "Light town" as well as Red Car eating the doughnut man on a "Eat Me Do-nuts" sign. [9][10]
[edit] Suitability for vegetarians
Since 2007, Milky Way bars in Europe have not been suitable for vegetarians. For several weeks in 2007, all Mars chocolates in Europe were not suitable for vegetarians owing to the use of animal rennet in the production of whey. After many members of the public expressed anger at the change Mars reverted to using solely vegetarian ingredients in Maltesers, Mars, Snickers, Revels, Tracker, and Galaxy products. However, Mars state that they "cannot guarantee that other Mars chocolate products ... are suitable for vegetarians".[11] In Europe, Milky Way, some Celebrations, Bounty, and Twix are therefore still unsuitable for vegetarians.
 An unwrapped US Milky Way |
 A broken US Milky Way |
 An unwrapped European Milky Way |
 A broken European Milky Way |
[edit] References
- ^ Sweet! Milky Way Bar Celebrates 85th Anniversary- from www.foodchannel.com
- ^ Timeline - from www.milkywaybar.com
- ^ a b c Andrew F. Smith (2006). "Milky Way". Encyclopedia of junk food and fast food. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 186. ISBN 0313335273.
- ^ "Milky Way". Trademark Electronic Search System. United States Patent and Trademark Office. http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4007:ti855.2.83. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
- ^ Daniel Miller (2001). Consumption: critical concepts in the social sciences. 4. Taylor & Francis. pp. 84. ISBN 0415242703.
- ^ Mike Johnson (1991-12-19). "Mars wins over ITC in Milky Way ads battle.". Marketing. http://accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-5476775_ITM.
- ^ Dominic Rushe (2006-10-10). "Fat chance for food firms". The Sunday Times. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article655955.ece.
- ^ Michael Bird (2003-06-01). "Choc therapy: Nestle Rowntree marketing manager Andrew Harrison is no stranger to the charms of his products, nor to the tastes and habits of his customers". In-Store. http://accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-19287674_ITM.
- ^ 2009 Milky Way ad
- ^ 1989 Milky Way ad
- ^ http://www.masterfoodsconsumercare.co.uk/veg_prodlst.asp Mars Consumer Care Vegetarian Product Suitability
[edit] External links
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