Mars

**Mars** is a variety of chocolate bar produced by Mars, Incorporated. It was first manufactured in 1932 in Slough, England by Forrest Mars, Sr. The bar was sold in two different formulations. In its original British version the bar consists of caramel and nougat coated with milk chocolate, developed to resemble the American chocolate bar known as the Milky Way, which had been introduced a decade earlier. An American version of the Mars Bar was produced which had nougat and toasted almonds covered in milk chocolate; later, caramel was added to the recipe as well. The American version was discontinued in 2002, and then revived the following year under the name "Snickers Almond".

## Versions

In 1932, Forrest Mars, son of American candy maker Frank C. Mars, rented a factory in Slough and with a staff of twelve people, began manufacturing a chocolate bar consisting of nougat and caramel covered in milk chocolate (originally advertised as using Cadbury's chocolate couverture), modelled after his father's Milky Way bar, which was already popular in the US. The bar and the proportions of the main components have changed over the years. With minor variations, this version is sold worldwide, except for the US, and is packaged in a black wrapper with red gold-edged lettering.

In 2002, the Mars bar was reformulated and its logo was updated with a more cursive appearance except in Australia where it is still has the pre-2002 logo. Its price also increased. The nougat was made lighter, the chocolate on top became thinner, and the overall weight of the bar was reduced slightly. The slogan "Pleasure you can't measure" was intended to appeal more to women and youths.

Various sizes are made (sizes as of 2008): miniature bars called "Fun Size" (19.7 g) and "Snack Time" (36.5 g) (both sold in multiple packs); a larger multi-pack size of 54 g; the regular sized single 58 g bar and a "king-size" 84 g bar which has since been replaced by "Mars Duo" (85 g) – a pack that contains 2 smaller bars of 42.5 g each instead of 1 large one. The regular 58 g single bar contains 260 calories.

In the second half of 2008, Mars UK reduced the weight of regular bars from 62.5 g to 58 g. Although the reduction in size was not publicised at the time, Mars claimed the change was designed to help tackle the obesity crisis in the UK. The company later confirmed that the real reason for the change was rising costs. In 2013, the "standard" Mars bar was further reduced to 51 g, bringing the change to around 20% in 5 years.

### United States

A U.S Mars bar
The worldwide Mars bar differs from that sold in the US. The American version was discontinued in 2002 and was replaced with the slightly different Snickers Almond featuring nougat, almonds, and a milk chocolate coating. Like the later recipe changes to the American Mars bar, Snickers Almond also contains caramel. The US version of the Mars bar was relaunched in January 2010 and was initially being sold on an exclusive basis through Walmart stores. The European version of the Mars bar is also sold in some United States grocery stores. The US version was once again discontinued at the end of 2011. In September 2016, Ethel M. Chocolates, a gourmet chocolate subsidiary of Mars, Inc. launched the 'original American recipe' of the Mars Bar in their stores and on Amazon.com. Unlike Snickers Almond and later incarnations of the American Mars bar, this bar does not contain caramel.

## Limited verisons

* **Mars Almonds**
* **Mars King Size** (UK)
* **Mars Dark and Light**
* **Mars Delight** (discontinued)
* **Mars Eggs (1995) UK**

* **Mars Midnight**, white inside Mars bar, but covered in dark chocolate. Now named **Mars Dark**, it is on permanent release in Canada, and was on a Limited Edition sale in the UK as of October 2009.
* **Mars Gold**
* **Mars Maple** (Canada)
* **Mars Mini Eggs** (available around Easter)
* **Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Mars bar**
* **Mars Triple Chocolate** (Australia) a variant in which, despite the name, includes chocolate-based nougat and chocolate-based caramel. Also available as a limited edition in the United Kingdom in August 2011, later re-released in 2015 as **Mars Xtra Choc** and in 2017 as "Mars Choc Brownie"
* **Mars Lite** (Australia)
* **Mars Lava** (Australia) - orange-flavored nougat; discontinued in 2004.
* **Mars Fling** (Australia)
* **Mars Miniatures**, five fun size bars in the same packet
* **Mars XXX** (Australia) sold in gold wrapping. It contains chocolate flavoured caramel and nougat. Now called the Mars Triple Chocolate.
* **Mars Chill** (Australia, New Zealand and the UK) – wrapper had 'Mars' written in white, turned to blue when cold
* **Mars Rocks** (Australia and New Zealand), released by Mars Snackfood Australia in August 2007, is made of chocolate malt nougat topped with a layer of caramel and covered with milk chocolate embedded with "crispies" (whose main ingredients are wheat flour and sugar).
* **Mars Red** (Australia) – Mars bar with half the fat of a regular Mars bar. Has a red wrapper with 'Mars' written in black.
* **Mars World Cup** (England) – Mars bar with the St George's Cross on the packaging to commemorate England's participation in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
* **Mars 100% Caramel** – (Australia) – introduced in January 2011. It is simply a standard Mars Bar, but with the nougat removed. Also available in the UK as a limited edition as of 2012
* **Mars Vanilla** – (Australia) – introduced April 2012. It is a standard Mars Bar with a vanilla-flavoured nougat.
* **Mars Honeycomb** – (Australia) – introduced in January 2013. It is a standard Mars Bar, but with the nougat being honeycomb-flavoured.
* **Mars Loaded** – (Australia) – introduced January 2014. It is a standard Mars bar with a chocolate-flavoured nougat, chocolate-flavoured caramel and a slightly darker chocolate coating