Snickers is celebrating its 80th birthday this month.
The candy bar, named Snickers after the Mars family’s favorite horse, has come a long way since it was first introduced in 1930 for the price of five cents a bar. It has also changed with the times, evolving into numerous sizes and formats to fit customer demand.
From 1933 to 1935, Snickers was a two-piece bar and was called “Double Snickers,” and in 1936, the bar returned to a single format. In 1979, “Fun-Size” Snickers bars hit candy shelves nation-wide, and in 1983 “King Size” Snickers bars were introduced for out-of-home consumption and became nationally available in 1984. In 1990, the introduction of bite-size Snickers “Miniatures” became available nationwide.
Snickers debuted other forms of its famous bar as well. In 1970, the Snickers Munch bar was introduced and later become “MUNCH,” a peanut snack, including a blend of fresh roasted peanuts in a golden butter crunch. In 1994, Snickers launched its first ice cream product, the Snickers ice cream cone, during National Ice Cream Month in July. Two years later the brand introduced its ice cream bar.
Snickers has strived to reach its customers through innovative advertising over the years. In 1984, Snickers became the Official Snack Food sponsor of the Olympics in Los Angeles. And in 2000, the brand allowed the American public to determine the Super Bowl commercial it would air by voting online. The viewing public determined the most overused phrase of 2000 and had “What’s up?” officially “crunched” to its final demise in the Snickers Cruncher Super Bowl Commercial. This year, Snickers teamed up with famed actress Betty White to kick off new “You’re not you when you’re hungry” campaign during the Super Bowl, which was named the No. 1 ad by many critics, including USA Today.
The Snickers bar is currently the number one selling candy bar in the U.S. and is consistently named as the “Favorite Candy Brand” across all age groups in the U.S. Snickers is sold in more than 70 countries around the world.