Mars bar

Mars bar

Product type	Confectionery
Owner	Mars, Incorporated
Introduced	1932

The Mars bar is a chocolate bar manufactured by Mars, Inc. It was first manufactured in Slough, Berkshire in the United Kingdom in 1932 as a sweeter version of the American Milky Way bar which Mars, Inc. produced in the USA (not to be confused with the European version of the Milky Way, which is a different confection). A different chocolate bar with the same name was sold in the USA until 2002. It contained plain nougat, almonds, caramel and milk chocolate. The UK 58 gram Mars bar contains 259 calories equivalent to 13% of an average adult suggested daily calorie intake. Contrast with the sugar content, which at 34.2g is 38% of the Guideline Daily Amount for an average adult. only salt content, however, is pretty good, with only 0.25g - or 4% GDA - contained in the average mars bar. Of course a fair amount of this is not salt at all, but salt equivilant when the sodium content is considered.

International variations

Chocolate bars sold as the Mars bar vary in different regions of the world. The American version (discontinued in 2002) is no longer sold, and has been replaced with the slightly different Snickers Almond. The European version of the Mars bar is sold in some United States grocery stores, usually being found in the imported or ethnic food sections.

British Mars bar

In 1932, Forrest Mars, assumed estranged son of American candy maker Frank C. Mars, rented a factory in Slough and with a staff of twelve people began manufacturing a kind of chocolate bar that had not been seen before in the UK. At that time most chocolate was simply a solid block, whereas the Mars bar consisted of nougat and caramel covered in milk chocolate. It was modelled after his father's Milky Way bar, which was already popular in the US. Today the basic recipe is unaltered but the size of the bar and the proportions of the main components have changed over the years.

In 2002, the UK Mars bar was reformulated and repackaged. The nougat was made lighter, the chocolate on top became noticeably thinner, and the overall weight of the bar was reduced slightly. This was met with outrage from Mars purists, as in a sales pitch to local media in the Slough, the change in ingredients was to follow the trend of its sister the Milky Way bar, the Double Decker and 5 Star bars. Product designers at The Mars Candy Company in the US, put this down to nostalgia over the past hugely popular Starbar which also contained the same reinvented 'light whipped nougatine.' The packaging was also redesigned with a less-bold and a more cursive logo.

The famous slogan "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" was written by William Dagnall as a competition tie breaker in 1966. This was replaced with "Pleasure you can't measure", a re-branding intended to appeal to a more feminine, youthful market.

Various sizes are made: miniature bars called "Fun Size" (19.7g) and "Snack Time" (36.5g) (both sold in multiple packs); a larger multi-pack size of 54g; the regular sized single 58g bar and a "king-size" (also called Adam-sized) 84g bar which has since been replaced by "Mars Duo" (91g) - a pack that contains 2 smaller bars instead of 1 large one. The regular 58 gram single bar contains 259 calories.

In the UK, most Mars bars are still made at the Slough Trading Estate.

Canada

Since the summer of 2006, all Mars bars produced 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. In February 2008, Mars Canada introduced a new variety of Mars bar called "Mars Caramel" to compete with the Cadbury Caramilk and Nestle Aero Caramel bars.

Limited editions

Several limited-edition variants of Mars bars have been released in various countries. (These have often been permanent releases in other countries). They include:

• Mars Almond
• Mars Dark and Light
• Mars Midnight, white inside Mars bar but covered in dark chocolate. Now named Mars Dark, it is on permanent release in Canada, and is on a Limited Edition sale in the UK, as of October 2009.
• Mars Gold
• Mars Mini Eggs (Available around Easter)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Mars bar
• Mars Triple Chocolate (Australia)
• Mars Lite (Australia)
• Mars Lava (Australia - Orange flavoured)
• Mars Fling (Australia)
• Mars Miniatures, 5 fun size bars in the same packet
• Mars XXX (Australia) sold in gold wrapping (filled with bourbon).
• Mars Chill (Australia and New Zealand) - wrapper had 'Mars' written in white, turned to blue when cold
• Mars Rocks (Australia and New Zealand), released by Mars Snackfood Australia in August 2007, is made of chocolate-malt nougat topped with a layer of caramel and covered with milk chocolate embedded with "crispies" (whose main ingredients are wheat flour and sugar).
• Mars Red (Australia) - Mars bar with half the fat of a regular Mars bar. Has a red wrapper with 'Mars' written in black.

Spinoff products

Other products have also been released using the Mars branding.

• Mars Delight
• Mars Extra Chocolate Drink
• Mars Active Energy Drink
• Mars No Added Sugar Drink
• Mars Ice Cream bars
• Mars Midnight Ice Cream bars (banned in 48 states)
• McVities Mars Mini Rolls
• Mars Bisc & (Australia & the UK - A biscuit with Mars topping)
• Mars Pods (Australia & New Zealand - a small crunchy biscuit with Mars filling)
• Mars Rocks
• Mars Muffin
• Mars Planets - Small balls similar to Maltesers with nougat, crunchy and caramel fillings

Custom packaging

Mars Believe

The Original Mars bar in "Believe" packaging was sold in the UK from 18 April 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 national football team. Advertising in other nations of the UK was tailored to reflect their own teams after the public condemnation, although in Scotland the "Believe" packaging was still used - causing negative publicity.

On 30 July 2008, the Tasmanian government announced that it had secured a major sponsor, Mars for a bid to enter the Australian Football League in a deal worth $4 million over 3 years and will temporarily change the name of its top-selling chocolate bar in Australia to Believe, to help promote Tasmania's cause.

Advertising slogans

Former

• "Mars macht mobil bei Arbeit, Sport und Spiel" (Mars mobilizes you at work, sports and play) - Germany (1980s and 1990s)
• "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" - Australia, United Kingdom
• "Out of this world!" - Australia, UK
• "MARS LEGEND" - Australia
• "Earth - what you'd eat if you lived on Mars" - New Zealand and Australia
• "Another way to make your day" - UK (2005)
• "Feels good to be back! " - Australia (2005)
• "An almond in every bite!" - USA
• "Un Mars, et ça repart" (A Mars, and you're off again) - France (late 1990s and renewed from 2006)
• "Mars, que du bonheur" (Mars, only happiness) - France
• "Mars, haal eruit wat erin zit!" (Mars, get out of it, what's in it) - The Netherlands, Flanders
• "Who knows? In 1,000 years we could all be sitting on Mars eating Earth bars." - United Kingdom (A full page advertisement placed in the official Guide Book for the Millennium Dome in 2000)

Current

• "Recharge on Mars" - Canada
• "Work-Rest-Play" - UK
• "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" - Australia
• "Mars, pleasure you can't measure" - Europe
• ""Mars, momento di vero godimento"" (Mars, a moment of pure enjoyment) - Italy
• "Mars, geeft je energie" (Gives you energy) - The Netherlands, Flanders
• "Nimm Mars, gib Gas" (Take Mars, step on the gas) - Germany
• "Un coup de barre, Mars, et ça repart" - France
• "Mars your day" - Australia

Deep-fried Mars bar

Main article: Deep-fried Mars bar

This is a Mars bar which has been coated with batter and deep-fried in oil or beef fat. First reports of battered Mars bars being sold in Stonehaven , Scotland date back to 1995.

Deep-fried Mars bars are available from some fish-and-chip shops in Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

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, accompanied by a state-wide advertising campaign incorporating the slogan "Feels good to be back".

Animal products controversy

In May 2007 Mars UK announced that Mars bars, along with many of their other products such as Snickers, Maltesers, Minstrels and Twix would no longer be suitable for vegetarians and Hindus because of the introduction of rennet, a chemical sourced from calves’ stomachs used in the production of whey. Masterfoods confirmed that many other products such as Easter eggs and ice cream would also be affected.

The rabbinical authorities declared that the products remained kosher for Jewish consumption.

The decision was condemned by several groups, with the Vegetarian Society stating that "at a time when more and more consumers are concerned about the provenance of their food, Mars’ decision to use non-vegetarian whey is a backward step".

Mars later abandoned these plans, stating that it became "very clear, very quickly" that it had made a mistake.

Economics

It has been observed on several occasions that the price of a Mars bar correlates fairly accurately with the change in value of the pound sterling since World War II.

External links

• The Visible Mars bar project, which shows the difference between US and UK Mars bars.
• Site with cross-sections of both the original U.S. and Canadian Mars bars
• Slough History Online
• The Chocolate Review's article on the Mars bar