Bizarre backstory behind why chocolate bar Snickers is called Snickers
Topics: Food and Drink, Weird, Animals
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Topics: Food and Drink, Weird, Animals
There's a bizarre backstory behind why the chocolate bar Snickers is called Snickers.
Snickers bars are arguably one of the nation's favourite sweet treats, known for their heavenly blend of nougat topped with caramel and peanuts all encased in some mouth-watering milk chocolate to top it all off.
But, the chocolate bar's moniker has some pretty odd origins that people are only just realizing now.
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Snickers have long since been a household name for anyone with a sweet tooth throughout the decades since it first graced our taste buds back in 1911.
And it's not just the taste of the bars that's gone down a treat with fans as the brand also boasts a whole load of catchy slogans like 'get some nuts' and 'you're not you when you're hungry' that will be sure to go down in history.
While we may pay attention to the clever marketing and most definitely pay attention to the flavour - not many of us have given any thought as to where the name 'Snickers' even came from in the first place.
It started over a century ago when Frank and Ethel Mars started a sweets factory.
While the initial business model didn't turn out to be winner - it was probably for the best as the pair later founded 'Mar-o-Bar', a company that later turned into Mars Company.
Ring any bells?
The brand was instantly a success with their first product, the delicious Milky Way, becoming an instant hit.
The confectionary connoisseurs later reportedly purchased a massive 3,000-acre horse breeding farm in Tennessee which they aptly named after the Milky Way.
At the farm, the pair kept a few horses with Ethel's favourite horse sadly kicking the bucket in 1930.
The death came just before a chocolate bar, which had not yet been awarded an official name, was about to go in to production.
Can you see where this is going?
The horse's name was in fact Snickers - so the pair decided to name the brand-new bar after their late pet as a touching and decade-spanning tribute.
Pretty sweet if you ask me.
Snickers was known as the Marathon Bar in the UK between 1967 and 1990, before changing back to its original horse-honoured name.
And the reason for the name change? Well, the bar was deemed to sound too similar to the Brit word for underwear - 'knickers'.
The news has since caused quite a buzz on social media with one Twitter user revealing: "I was today years old when I found out the meaning behind the Snickers candy bar name."
A Marathon loyalist tweeted: "Marathon not Snickers! Haven’t bought one of those chocolate peanut bars since the name changed!"
And another echoed: "Stupid name. Bring back Marathon."
What do you make of it?