Product type | Confectionery |
---|---|
Owner | Mars, Incorporated |
Introduced | 1930 |
Markets | World |
Website | www |
Snickers is a brand name chocolate bar made by the American company Mars, Incorporated. Consisting of nougat topped with caramel and peanuts, enrobed in milk chocolate, Snickers has annual global sales of $2 billion.
In the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and Ireland, Snickers was sold under the brand name Marathon until 1990. Snickers brand Marathon energy bars have since been sold in some markets.
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 July 19, 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, Snickers with hazelnuts, Snickers peanut butter bars and Snickers with Extra Caramel.
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. 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 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. As Mars stated fulfillment of their promise, the Duo format was met with criticism by the National Obesity Forum and National Consumer Council.