Snickers

Snickers is a chocolate bar made by the American company Mars, Incorporated, consisting of nougat topped with caramel and peanuts that is encased in milk chocolate. The annual global sales of Snickers was over $3 billion .

In the United Kingdom, Snickers was sold under the brand name Marathon until 1990. A Marathon retro edition was sold exclusively at Morrisons for three months in 2020.

History

In 1930, Mars introduced Snickers, named after the favorite horse of the Mars family. The Snickers chocolate bar consists of nougat, peanuts, and caramel with a chocolate coating. The bar was marketed under the name "Marathon" in the UK and Ireland until 1990, when Mars decided to align the UK product with the global Snickers name (Mars had marketed and discontinued an unrelated bar named Marathon in the United States during the 1970s which was similar to the UK's Curly Wurly). There are also several other Snickers products such as Snickers mini, dark chocolate, ice cream bars, Snickers with almonds, Snickers with hazelnuts, Snickers with pecans, Snickers peanut butter bars, Snickers protein and Snickers with Extra Caramel, as well as espresso, fiery, and sweet & salty versions.

Ingredients

The early (1939) ingredients list includes white sugar, sweet milk chocolate, corn syrup, peanuts, milk condensed with sugar, coconut oil, malted milk, whites of eggs and salt. By 2019, the ingredients for the original bar had been refined to milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, artificial flavor), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, palm oil, skim milk, lactose, salt, egg whites, artificial flavor.

Caloric value

The USDA lists the caloric value of a 2-ounce (57 gram) Snickers bar as . As of 2018, the United Kingdom bar has a weight of , with 245 kcal,Snickers 48g - Nutrition
marsnutrition.co.uk and the Canadian bar with 250 kcal.

Bar weight

Over the years, the bar weight has decreased: Before 2009, in the UK a single Snickers bar had a weight of . This weight was subsequently reduced to in 2009, and to in 2013. In the United States the listed weight in 2018 was 52.7 g. In Australia, Snickers bars were originally made locally and weighed , however in the late 2010s production moved to China and the bars were shrunk to . In 2022, production returned to Australia and bars further reduced in weight to .

Products containing Snickers

Containing approximately per bar, deep fried chocolate bars (including Snickers and Mars bars) became a specialty in fish and chips shops in Scotland in 1995, and in the early 2000s, became popular at American state fairs.

In 2006, the British Food Commission highlighted celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson's " Snickers pie", which contained five Snickers bars among other ingredients, suggesting it was one of the unhealthiest desserts ever; one slice providing "over from sugar and fat alone", more than half a day's requirement for an average adult. The pie had featured on his BBC Saturday programme some two years earlier and the chef described it as an occasional treat only.

Advertising

"It's so satisfying"

In 1980, Snickers (and Marathon) ran ads which featured a variety of everyday people discussing why they like Snickers. The ads featured a jingle that said "It's so satisfying" and had the classic hand that would open and close showing a handful of peanuts converting to a Snickers bar. "Packed with peanuts, Snickers really satisfies" was shown in the commercials.

1984 Olympics

Mars paid $5 million to have Snickers and M&M's named the "official snack" of the 1984 Summer Olympics, outraging nutritionists. Sports promotions in international games continued to be a prominent marketing tool for Mars, that would keep Snickers as an international brand while also selling local bars in some markets.

Not Going Anywhere For a While?

Beginning in 1995, Snickers ran ads which featured someone making a self-inflicted mistake, with the voice-over saying "Not going anywhere for a while? Grab a Snickers!" The tag line at the end of each ad proclaimed, "Hungry? Why Wait?"

One such ad had a player for a fictional American football team showing off his new tattoo of the team's logo on his back to his teammates. He then shows it to his head coach who, after complimenting the tattoo, immediately tells him that he's been traded to Miami. The player then goes to have his old team's logo replaced with the new team's logo.

Some of the ads were done in conjunction with the National Football League, with whom Snickers had a sponsorship deal at the time. One ad featured a member of the grounds crew at Arrowhead Stadium painting the field for an upcoming Kansas City Chiefs game in hot, late-summer weather. After finishing one of the end zones, and visibly exhausted, one of the Chiefs players walks up to him and says the field looks great, "but who are the Chefs?", showing that despite all the hard work the painter accidentally omitted the "i" in Chiefs. Another had Marv Levy in the Buffalo Bills locker room lecturing his team that "no one's going anywhere" until the Bills figure out how to actually win a Super Bowl.

Snickers Feast

In 2007, Snickers launched a campaign which featured Henry VIII and a Viking among others who attend the "Snickers Feast". It consisted of various commercials of the gang and their adventures on the feast.

Super Bowl XLI commercial

On February 4, 2007, during Super Bowl XLI, Snickers commercials aired. This resulted in complaints by gay and lesbian groups against the maker of the candy bar, Masterfoods USA of Hackettstown, New Jersey, a division of Mars, Incorporated. The commercial showed a pair of auto mechanics accidentally kissing while sharing a Snickers bar. After quickly pulling away, one mechanic sheepishly says, "I think we just accidentally kissed.", and another mechanic frantically exclaims, "Quick! Do something manly!" and in three of the four versions, they do so mostly in the form of injury, including tearing out chest hair, striking each other with a very large pipe wrench, and drinking motor oil and windshield washer fluid. In the fourth version, however, a third mechanic shows up and asks "Is there room for three in this Love Boat?"

Complaints were lodged against Masterfoods that the ads were homophobic. Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese is quoted as saying, "This type of jeering from professional sports figures at the sight of two men kissing fuels the kind of anti-gay bullying that haunts countless gay and lesbian school children on playgrounds all across the country."Snickers Ad of Men Accidentally Kissing Pulled After Complaints From Gay Groups
, FOX Business. Article retrieved 17 October 2007.

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) president Neil Giuliano said "That Snickers, Mars and the NFL would promote and endorse this kind of prejudice is simply inexcusable." Masterfoods has since pulled the ads and the website.Super Bowl Controversy
, FOX sports. Article retrieved February 6, 2007.

Mr. T

In 2006, Mr. T starred in a Snickers advertisement in the UK where he rides up in an army tank and shouts abuse at a football player who appears to be faking an injury, threatening to introduce him to his friend Pain. Another advertisement featured Mr. T launching bars at a swimmer who appeared to refuse to get in a swimming pool because of the cold temperature of the water. In 2008, a European Snickers commercial in which Mr. T uses a Jeep-mounted Minigun to fire Snickers bars at a speedwalker for being a "disgrace to the man race" was pulled after complaints from a US pressure group that the advertisement was homophobic. These advertisements usually ended with Mr. T saying "Snickers: Get Some Nuts!"

NASCAR

In NASCAR racing, Snickers (and the rest of the Mars affiliated brands) sponsor Kyle Busch's #18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that the brand served as a primary sponsor for Ricky Rudd's #88 Robert Yates Racing Ford as well as an associate sponsor for the team's #38 car driven first by Elliott Sadler and then by David Gilliland, and an associate sponsor for the MB2 Motorsports #36 Pontiac driven by Derrike Cope, Ernie Irvan, Ken Schrader, and others. In 1990, Bobby Hillin drove for Stavola Brothers Racing in the #8 Snickers Buick, marking the candy's first appearance as a sponsor; it had since been driven by Rick Wilson and Dick Trickle. Mars announced that at the conclusion of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, they will pull their sponsorship from not only Joe Gibbs Racing, but NASCAR entirely.

FIFA World Cup & UEFA Euro Sponsorship

Snickers was the Official Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup from 1990 until 1998 editions and the UEFA European Championship from 1996 until 2000.

You're Not You When You're Hungry

In 2010, a new advertising campaign was launched, usually based around people turning into different people (usually celebrities) as a result of hunger (taking the new campaign's name "You're Not You When You're Hungry" quite literally). The tagline varied depending on the commercial's location or what variety the commercial is showing. The American adverts initially ended with the tagline "Snickers Satisfies". Steve Burns, best known as the first host of the children’s show '' Blue’s Clues'' has done the voice of the announcer. BBDO New York said this campaign made Snickers the number one candy bar, up from seventh. In 2020, ''USA Todays Ad Meter named it the best Super Bowl campaign of the past 25 years.

In 2010, Betty White and Abe Vigoda appeared in the first Snickers commercial in this campaign, playing American football. The commercial was ranked by ADBOWL as the best advertisement of the year. This commercial was also briefly spoofed in an episode of '' SportsNation'' on ESPN2 with Michelle Beadle playing the role instead of Betty White in 2011. Later that year, Snickers commercials featured singers Aretha Franklin and Liza Minnelli, and comedians Richard Lewis and Roseanne Barr. A 2011 commercial featured actors Joe Pesci and Don Rickles.

In Latin America, the slogan was the same as in the UK version, except that men doing extreme sports turning into the Mexican singer Anahí as a result of hunger. Brazilian versions of the ad featured actresses Betty Faria and Cláudia Raia.

In 2013, Robin Williams and Bobcat Goldthwait appeared in a Snickers football commercial. Russian duo t.A.T.u. appeared in a Japanese Snickers commercial as themselves throwing a tantrum in a baseball game before eating the chocolate reverts them into normal baseball players. Reducing portion size, clearer food labels, and reduction of the levels of fat, sugar, and salt were among the FDF pledges. Mars Incorporated pledged to phase out their king-size bars in 2005 and replace them with shareable bars. A Mars spokesman said: "Our king-size bars that come in one portion will be changed so they are shareable or can be consumed on more than one occasion. The name king-size will be phased out."

These were eventually replaced by the 'Duo' - a double bar pack. Though this change to Duos reduced the weight from , the price remained the same. The packaging has step-by-step picture instructions of how to open a Duo into two bars, in four simple actions.The Rise and Fall of 'King-Size' Chocolate Bars (UK)
h2g2 at bbc.co.uk. Article retrieved December 8, 2006. As Mars stated fulfillment of their promise, the Duo format was met with criticism by the National Obesity Forum and National Consumer Council.Hickman, Martin
"Chocolate makers eat their words on king-size snacks"
The Independent (London). Article written January 6, 2006. Retrieved December 8, 2006.

Australian recall

In December 2000, tens of thousands of Snickers and Mars Bars were removed from New South Wales store shelves due to a series of threatening letters which resulted in fears that the chocolate bars had been poisoned."Mars, Snickers Recalled Due to Poison Threat"
health.dailynewscentral.com. July 1, 2004. Mars received letters from an unidentified individual indicating that they planned to plant poisoned chocolate bars on store shelves. The last letter sent included a Snickers bar contaminated with a substance which was later identified as rat poison. The letters claimed that there were seven additional chocolate bars which had been tampered with and which were for sale to the public. As a precautionary measure, Mars issued a massive recall. Mars said that there had been no demand for money and complaints directed to an unidentified third party.

Vein removal hoax

In April 2022, a Twitter user satirically claimed in a viral tweet that Snickers was removing the " dick vein" design from the top of the candy bar, prompting a backlash from unwitting Snickers fans. Due to the volume of response, Snickers clarified in its own viral tweet that the "veins remain".

Snickers Products

The following variants are available in the United States of America.
*Snickers Original
*Snickers Milk Chocolate
*Snickers Almond
*Snickers Peanut Butter
*Snickers White Chocolate
*Snickers Peanut Brownie
*Snickers Almond Brownie Dark Chocolate
*Snickers Ice Cream
*Snickers 100 Calories Chocolate
*Snickers Creamy Peanut Butter
*Snickers Crunchy Peanut Butter

See also

* Curly Wurly
* Baby Ruth
* Snickers salad
* Snickers pie
* List of chocolate bar brands
* List of candies

References

External links

Official website

{{Mars brands

Products introduced in 1930
American confectionery
Candy
Mars confectionery brands
Peanut dishes
Chocolate bars
Brand name confectionery