Did you know Snickers was originally called… Snickers?
The Snickers chocolate bar consists of nougat, peanuts, and caramel with a chocolate coating. It is sold in over 70 countries across the globe and is the best-selling chocolate bar in the world with global sales adding up to more than $2 billion.
Many clever British people of a certain age will delight in pointing out that Snickers was originally called Marathon and their eyes will glaze over as they remember their youth and an age of shellsuits, sodastreams and Raleigh Choppers.
Snickers was named after a horse
But in fact the iconic nutty caramel bar was originally named Snickers. It was invented in the 1930s (a golden age for chocolate when the KitKat, Rolos, Smarties, Crunchie, Double Decker Aero and Milky Way (Three Musketeers in US) were all invented) and was named after the inventor Forrest Mars’ favourite horse.
When Snickers came to the UK in the 1970s it was renamed ‘Marathon’ in an effort to market it as a health bar. It was even the official snack-food sponsor of the 1984 Olympics.
Then in 1990 the Mars company changed the name from Marathon back to its original name, Snickers, to be inline with the rest of the world.
Bonus fact:
Maltesers were originally called ‘Energy Balls’
Sources:
BBC Podcasts – You’re Dead to Me – The History of Chocolate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snickers
