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This article is about the candy bar. For other uses, see Snickers (disambiguation).

Sneakers
File:Snickers wrapped.png
Product typeConfectionery
OwnerMars, Incorporated
Introduced2500
MarketsWorld
Websitewww.snickers.com

Snickers is a brand name chocolate bar made by Mars, Incorporated. Consisting of nougat topped with caramel and peanuts, enrobed in milk chocolate,[1] Snickers has annual global sales of $2 billion.[2]

In the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and Ireland, Snickers was sold under the brand name Marathon until 1990.[3] More recently, Snickers Marathon branded energy bars have been sold in some markets.[4]

History

In 1930[5] Mars introduced Snickers, named after the favorite horse of the Mars family.[6] The Snickers candy 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 19 July 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). There are also several other Snickers products such as Snickers mini, dark chocolate, ice cream bars, Snickers with almonds, and Snickers peanut butter bars.[7]

Snickers Duo

A replacement for the king size Snickers bar was launched in the UK in 2004 and designed to conform to the September 2004 Food and Drink Federation (FDF) "Manifesto for Food and Health". Part of the FDF manifesto was seven pledges of action to encourage the food and drink industry to be more health conscious.[8] 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."[8]

These were eventually replaced by the 'Duo', a double bar pack. Though this change to Duos reduced the weight from 3.5 to 3.29 ounces (99 to 93 g), 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.[9] As Mars stated fulfillment of their promise, the Duo format was met with criticism by the National Obesity Forum and National Consumer Council.[10]

Australian recall

In December of 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.[11] Mars received letters from an unidentified individual indicating that they planned to plant poisoned chocolate bars on store shelves.[11] The last letter sent included a Snickers bar contaminated with a substance which was later identified as rat poison.[11] The letters claimed that there were seven additional chocolate bars which had been tampered with and which were for sale to the public.[11] As a precautionary measure, Mars issued a massive recall.[11] Mars said that there had been no demand for money and complaints directed to an unidentified third party.[11]

Caloric value

The USDA lists the caloric value of a 2-ounce (57 gram) Snickers bar as 280 kilocalories (1,200 kJ).[12] The UK bar is now just 48g, with 245 kcal. In Canada, the 52g bar is 250 calories.

Products containing Snickers

Containing approximately 450 calories (1,900 J) per bar,[13] deep fried chocolate bars (including Snickers and Mars bars) became a specialty in fish and chips shops in Scotland in 1995,[14] and in the early 2000s, became popular at US state fairs.

In 2012, the British Food Commission highlighted celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson's "Snickers pie",[15] which contained five Snickers bars among other ingredients, suggesting it was one of the unhealthiest desserts ever; one slice providing "over 1,250 calories (5,200 kJ) 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.[16]

Variations

  • 1970 - 1973: Snickers Munch
  • 1990–Present: Snickers Ice Cream bar
  • 1996 - 2011: Snickers Ice Cream cone
  • 2001–Present: Snickers Cruncher bar (rebranded Snickers Munch in some markets, still sold as "Cruncher" in Italy, Germany, Romania, Egypt, Poland, Latvia, Austria, Slovakia, Israel, Sweden, The Netherlands, Bosnia, and Portugal)
  • 2002 - 2009: Snickers almond bar
  • 2002 - 2008: Cookies & Snickers
  • 2004 – Present: Snickers Marathon energy bars
  • 2006–Present: Snickers Duo
  • 2006 - 2009: Snickers Xtreme (5 grams (0.18 oz) of protein per serving, lack of nougat)
  • 2007 - 2010: Snickers Dark (dark chocolate)
  • 2008: Snickers Charged (limited edition, contains caffeine, taurine, and B vitamins). It is the only Snickers bar to contain energy stimulants.[17]
  • 2008–present: Snickers The Lot (Crispy pieces in a thick cream, caramel, sprinkled with a large amount of nuts, and covered in chocolate (Australia and New Zealand))
  • 2009: Snickers Fudge (Limited edition)
  • 2010: Snickers Maximus, a limited edition with only caramel & peanut in the center.
  • 2010: More Nuts, a limited edition featuring 10% higher nut content
  • 2010: Snickers Almond
  • 2011: Snickers Peanut Butter. Discontinued and replaced by Snickers PB Squared
  • 2011: Snickers Peanut Butter Squared. Added to replace Snickers Peanut Butter.
  • 2011: Snickers 3x Chocolate
  • 2012: Snickers 3x Nuts. Introduced in Australia.
  • 2013: More Nuts. same as 2010.[18]
  • 2013: More Caramel. Re-release of Snickers Maximus.[18]
  • 2014: More Choc. a limited edition with the nougat and caramel being chocolate-based[19]

Others include:

  • Snickers Fun Size (small, bite-size bars popular for Halloween)
  • Snickers Minis
  • Snickers Flapjack
  • Peanut Butter Squared[20]
  • Snickers Gold
  • Snickers Cake
  • Snickers Ice Cream (Snickers Ice Cream Bars, Snickers Minis Ice Cream Bars, Snickers Ice Cream Cones, and Snickers Ice Cream Brownies)
  • Snickers Nut N Butter Crunch
  • Snickers Crazy Peanuts (limited edition, sold in Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia)
  • Snickers Hard (limited edition, sold in Armenia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia)
  • Snickers 220 V (limited edition, contains guarana and L-carnitine, sold in 2007 in Slovakia and Poland)
  • Frozen Snickers (otherwise known as a Frozen Mungler)
  • Snickers Hazelnut (Ukraine, Australia, and Poland; standard bar is 70 grams (2.5 oz), Duo bar +15% is two 40.5 grams (1.43 oz) bars resulting in a 81 grams (2.9 oz) combined bar)
  • Snickers Hazelnut (limited edition, sold in Bulgaria and Czech Republic; standard bar is 49 grams (1.7 oz))
  • Snickers Miniatures (in Celebrations)
  • Snickers Maple (limited edition, sold in Canada only)
  • Snickers with Green Shrek Filling (limited edition, sold as a tie-in with the movie Shrek the Third)
  • Snickers Adventure Bar (limited edition, sold as Indiana Jones promotion with chocolate, nuts, spice, and coconut flavor)
  • Snickers Rockin' Nut Road (limited edition, sold as Rocky Nut Road in Canada, contains almonds, caramel, marshmallow flavored nougat, and dark chocolate)
  • Snickers Chocolate Spread
  • Snickers Super (Ukraine; before 2009 it was 95 grams (3.4 oz), in 2009 it became 100 grams (3.5 oz), in 2010 it was split into two 50.5 grams (1.78 oz) bars resulting in a 101 grams (3.6 oz) combined bar)

Advertising

It's So Satisfying

In 1980, Snickers 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.

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!"

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.[citation needed]

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.[21]

Snickers Feast

In 2007, Snickers launched a campaign which featured Henry the 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.[citation needed]

Super Bowl XLI commercial

On 4 February 2007, during Super Bowl XLI, Snickers commercials aired which 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 touching lips while sharing a Snickers bar. Realizing that they "accidentally kissed", they, in three of the four versions, "do something manly" (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, a third mechanic shows up and asks if there is "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."[22]

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.[22][23][24]

Mr. T

In 2006, Mr. T starred in a Snickers advert 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 advert 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.[25] These adverts 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 Snickers Buick, marking the candy's first appearance as a sponsor.

FIFA World Cup & UEFA Euro Sponsorship

Snickers was an Official Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup from the year 1990 until 1998 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, based around people turning into different people (usually celebrities) when they're hungry (taking the new campaign's name "You're Not You When You're Hungry" quite literally). 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. 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.

The tagline varied depending on the commercial's location or what variety the commercial is showing. The UK version (featuring men in a changing room turning into Joan Collins and Stephanie Beacham as a result of hunger) retains Mr. T's slogan. 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.[citation needed]

In 2013, Robin Williams and Bobcat Goldthwait also appeared in a Snickers football commercial. In March 2014, a commercial featuring Godzilla was released to promote the 2014 Godzilla film. In the commercial, Godzilla is shown hanging out with humans on the beach, riding dirt bikes, and water skiing; he only begins rampaging once he's hungry. After being fed a Snickers bar, he resumes having fun with the humans.[26]

In October 2014, Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean returned on television by appearing on several UK Snickers commercials and cinema spots.[citation needed]

In February 2015, Snickers' Super Bowl XLIX commercial featured a parody of an episode of The Brady Bunch. In the commercial, Carol and Mike try to calm down a hungry and angry Danny Trejo. When the parents give Trejo a Snickers bar, he reverts into Marcia before an irate Jan (played by Steve Buscemi) rants upstairs and walks away.[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Snickers Candy Bar". Zeer.com. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
  2. ^ McCarthy, Michael (31 January 2005). "Women sweet on humorous Snickers ads". Usatoday.Com. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  3. ^ The Marathon candy bar[dead link‍], Christian Science Monitor, Home forum 18 March 1999
  4. ^ Snickers Marathon - Long Lasting Energy Bar, Snickers Marathon corporate website. Article retrieved 31 January 2007.
  5. ^ "About Mars:History". Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Welcome to Mars". MARS Corporation. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  7. ^ FoodReference.com - Food Facts & Trivia section
  8. ^ a b Fleming, Nic (article author), Chocolate bars cut down to size[dead link‍], telegraph.co.uk. Article dated 27 September 2004, retrieved 8 December 2006. Quote is from Michael Jenkins (external affairs director at Masterfoods, as parent company was then known).
  9. ^ h2g2 (editors)The Rise and Fall of 'King-Size' Chocolate Bars (UK), h2g2 at bbc.co.uk. Article retrieved 8 December 2006.
  10. ^ Hickman, Martin, "Chocolate makers eat their words on king-size snacks"[dead link‍], The Independent (London) (via find articles.com; article no longer online at independent.co.uk). Article written 6 January 2006. Retrieved 8 December 2006.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "Mars, Snickers Recalled Due to Poison Threat", health.dailynewscentral.com. Article dated 1 July 2004.[dead link‍]
  12. ^ "Candies, MARS SNACKFOOD US, SNICKERS Bar (NDB No. 19155)". USDA Nutrient Database. USDA. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  13. ^ "Fat Festival? Calories in Food at the Fair". Retrieved 13 August 2009.
  14. ^ "Deep-fried Mars myth is dispelled". BBC News. 17 December 2004. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  15. ^ "Food - Recipes - Snickers pie". BBC. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  16. ^ "Celebrity recipe 'most unhealthy'". BBC News. 5 February 2006. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  17. ^ Snickers Charged. Candyblog, 25 January 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
  18. ^ a b Two limited edition Snickers bars replace original variant. Convenience Store, 2 January 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  19. ^ "Limited edition Snickers return with new More Choc bar". Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  20. ^ "Recipes and Cooking Inspiration – Kitchen Daily". Slashfood.com. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  21. ^ "Snickers Adverts And Commercials Archive CHEFS". AdvertoLog.com. 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  22. ^ a b Snickers Ad of Men Accidentally Kissing Pulled After Complaints From Gay Groups, FOX Business. Article retrieved 17 October 2007.
  23. ^ Super Bowl Controversy, FOX sports. Article retrieved 6 February 2007.
  24. ^ Thulasi Srikanthan (7 February 2007). "entertainment | Snickers bicker feeds ad flap". Toronto: TheStar.com. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  25. ^ Sweney, Mark (4 August 2008). "Don't give us none of that jibba jabba". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  26. ^ "Snickers TV Spot, 'Godzilla'". ISpot.tv. 13 March 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  27. ^ Chitwood, Adam (2 February 2015). "Watch This Year's Best Super Bowl Commercials". Collider.com. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
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