Snickers

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This entry is about the confectionery named Snickers. For Snickers workwear, see Snickers (workwear). For the Bishop of Utrecht see Petrus Matthias Snickers.

Image:Snickers wrapped.jpg Image:Snickers.jpg Image:Snickers opened.jpg

Snickers is a candy bar made by Mars, Incorporated. It is made from nougat topped with peanuts and caramel covered with milk chocolate. Snickers is the best selling candy bar of all time and has annual global sales of $2 billion.

In 1930, the Mars family introduced its second brand, Snickers, named after one of their favorite horses. They were first sold for a nickel. It is made by forming a nougat center into large slabs, which are cut to size once the caramel and peanuts have been added. After the centers are formed, they are coated with thick milk chocolate. The completed bars are inspected, wrapped, and packed in cases for shipment. From 1949 to 1952, Snickers was a sponsor of "The Howdy Doody Show". The "Fun Size" bar was introduced in 1968 and has been a popular Halloween treat ever since. Following decades saw ever more Snickers varieties introduced.

Snickers bars were particularly popular among movie-goers during the 1970s and early 1980s, outselling some of its important competitors at movie theaters. It still is somewhat popular at the movies. The Snickers brand is also available at many supermarkets, pharmacies and stores worldwide.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Snickers bars were originally sold under the name Marathon. In 1990, the name was changed to Snickers to the chagrin of many people. Today, still, some do not buy "Snickers".

M&M Mars used an aggressive advertisement campaign with memorable portrayals of irate foreign visitors attempting to order "Snickers" from confused shopkeepers. For eighteen months thereafter, both names were retained on the wrapper<ref>The Marathon candy bar, Christian Science Monitor, Home forum 1999-03-18</ref>. This caused a certain amount of derision, as the unfamiliar 'Snickers' was, to British ears, meaningless, and sounded very much like 'knickers'. The 2004 launch of the distinct Snickers Marathon energy bar therefore caused some confusion<ref>Snickers Marathon?? Screwing with my brain and the past, techno.blog("Dion") 2004-02-23</ref>.

In 1995 Snickers launched a website to support its sponsorship of Euro '96, a pan-European soccer tournament. The website was groundbreaking in soliciting match previews and reviews from its visitors, who generated some 4,000 match reports, and the website won various international design, advertising and online community awards.

In 2006 The UK 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 1,250 calories 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 2 years earlier and the chef described it as an occasional treat only. [1]

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