Mars Bar

The Mars Bar or Mars is a chocolate bar manufactured by Mars Incorporated. It is made of chocolate-malt nougat topped with a layer of caramel and covered with milk chocolate.

History

Peanut Free

From Summer 2006, all Mars Bars sold in Canada are peanut free. Mars is the first chocolate bar in North America for which no size of the product has any trace of peanuts.

Mars Bars in the USA

The Mars Bar was introduced in the United States in 1936. It contained nougat and almonds topped with caramel and covered with milk chocolate. It remained on the market until 2000 when it was renamed the Snickers Almond bar. The chocolate bar that is known as the Mars Bar outside the USA is very similar to the bar known as Milky Way within 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 and was accompanied by a state-wide advertising campaign incorporating the slogan "Feels good to be back".

*Deep-Fried Mars Bar

This is literally a British Mars bar which has been coated with batter and deep-fried in oil or beef fat. It is a Scottish invention, and is available from most Scottish fish-and-chip shops.

Dual name

On April 18, 2006 the Mars bar was temporarily renamed "Believe" in the United Kingdom for the backing of the England football team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, with the word "Mars" appearing in smaller print on the packaging. It reverted to just being Mars after the tournament ended in July.

Limited Editions

In the UK and some areas of Europe, limited edition Mars Bars have occasionally gone on sale. One of these has been the Mars Midnight, which has the same filling as a normal Mars Bar but is covered in dark chocolate. Several of these limited lines were normally available products in the Australian market. Some of the Limited Edition Mars Bars have been:

Believe Bar
Mars Almond
Mars Dark and Light
Mars Delight
Mars Drink
Mars Ice Cream
Mars Midnight Ice Cream
Mars Midnight
Mars Mini Eggs (Available around easter time.)
Dead Man's Chest

International Variants

The Mars Bar has many variants which contain different ingredients in different countries.

	Nougat	Nougat and caramel	Nougat, caramel and almonds	Nougat, caramel and peanuts
	Ingredients
Australia	Milky Way	Mars	(formerly Snickers Almond)	Snickers
Canada	3 Musketeers	Mars	Snickers Almond	Snickers
UK/Europe	Milky Way	Mars	Snickers Almond	Snickers
USA	3 Musketeers	Milky Way	Snickers Almond - (formerly Mars)	Snickers

Advertising Slogans

Former

"Feels good to be back! " - Australia (2005)

Current

"A Mars Bar a day at work, rest and play" - Canada
"Out of this world!" - Australia, UK, Europe
"Legend" - Australia

Trivia

Rock group The Undertones released a song called "Mars Bars", which has several references to the product. The UK advertising slogan "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" is incorporated into the song's lyrics.

When an advertising agency coined the above phrase, one of its employees was Murray Walker, later famous as a motor racing commentator. The phrase is often erroneously attributed to him, although in reality it was merely his decision to use it.

Jamie Farr of the television show M*A*S*H endorsed the US Mars bar in commercials during the 1980s.

During Operation Red Dawn (December 2003), in which the U.S. military captured former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, they apparently found a stash of Mars Bars near the former president.

Legend says that when London police raided a Rolling Stones party in the 1960s, they found lead singer Mick Jagger eating a Mars Bar from between girlfriend Marianne Faithfull's legs.

In the book Totall Recall, Hauser's briefcase was full of Mars Bars. He fed them to rats to mislead the bad guys.

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