The Mars Mystery

by Janet Marsh Webster White

It is out of this world. Its outer surface is deliciously dark and its center core is as white as snow.

As an American, I will never get to see it. This is not an astronomy lesson. I am talking about the Mars candy bar!

I eat candy every night. I am very particular and only like about four different candy bars. They are all made by the Mars Candy Company, and they are all dark chocolate. My very most favorite of all is the Mars Dark. I have been complaining to my family for years that they have disappeared from the face of the earth, and why can’t I get one??

This year for my birthday my brother Larry gave me a case of Mars Bars. When I opened the box I was shocked and thrilled. How cool was this! He remembered how much I missed my Mars – what a great brother! Somewhere way in the back of my brain something was telling me the wrapper was different, but I didn’t let that dampen my excitement. That night I waited until my hunger was at its peak and carefully unwrapped my Mars. My first reaction was, "Gee I thought Mars was dark." It had been so long maybe my memory was mistaken. Then the first bite..... CRUSHING DISAPPOINTMENT!!!!! Why was this my favorite candy? This is so average and also mysteriously familiar. And the inside was cocoa colored. My Mars bars were snow white inside.

I was stunned! I thought I was crazy, but I was certain that this was a Milky Way in a Mar’s wrapper. I don’t like Milky Ways, in fact they are my least favorite candy bar. Then I looked at the wrapper and saw a strange language I had never seen or couldn’t recognize. Words like “sadrzi, laktoza, prahu, and nemasni” stared back at me. I talked to Larry, and he told me he bought them on line and no longer had the website or the box the candy was originally packed in. This was scandalous!!

I bought some Milky Way and decided to do my own taste testing. I gave my grandchildren a piece of the Milky Way and a piece of my mystery Mars Bar and asked them to tell me the difference. They both agreed they were the same. They looked the same and tasted the same. Shame on the Mars Company!

My next test was with Nancy and Loren. I sent them a Milky Way and the mystery Mars. Nancy was fascinated by the strange language on the packaging and used her new iPhone translation app to determine the language of the scandalous Mars Bar. After trying many different languages, she discovered that “Prahu” means powder; “sadrzi” means contains; “laktoza” means lactose; and “nemasni” means fat. It was from Croatia!

Nancy and Loren carefully tasted both bars and noted some differences like size and sweetness and of course freshness. Who knows when the mystery bar was made and what kind of factory it was made in. It kind of gives me the willies just to think about it. But it most definitely was NOT a Mars Bar as it had milk chocolate and no nuts!!

I am so puzzled by all this. The Mars Bar is the flagship product of the company. Why deny Americans a candy bar that has been around since 1932? Wanting more answers, I called the Mars Company and was greeted by “Rosemary” in Customer Service. I told her all about the creepy Croatian bar and asked why the company sells the Mars Bar in Canada and not here? I also gave her the bar code # from the mystery bar so she could look up information on it. Rosemary was not very helpful. She said she could not get any info on the mystery bar since it was made in Croatia. I was talking to Mars North America. As to why they stopped making the Mars Dark, she said it was a marketing decision. I asked her if I could order the Mars Dark, and she said, “No”. She could give me the phone number of Mars in Canada, but I said, “No”. She was passing the buck or in this case the bar! At the end of the call there was an automated survey on my satisfaction regarding the phone call. I rated the experience very unsatisfactory. They didn’t even offer to send me free coupons! They have my e-mail, so we will see if they contact me.

So now you know more about the Mars Candy Bars than you ever wanted to know. There aren’t many food products out there that I am gaga over, but I have really missed my Mars. Larry’s gift was the coolest idea, only to be ruined by corporate America. This is what gets people protesting outside headquarters. I’m not ready to go to Hackettstown, N.J. I have a really good friend in Canada, and hopefully she will be my new supplier. I guess I will save my remaining Mars Bars for Halloween.

So that is my story. I’m off to Walmart and won’t give up the search. Stay tuned…

... Okay, I’m back with more... So my scandalous Mars Bars, given to me by Larry as the perfect Christmas present, have been thrown out. They were awful and horribly stale. Shortly after all this my friend from Canada called to say she was coming for a visit. She always asks me if I want anything and this time I said YES!! I told her the Mars story, and she said she would be glad to get them and knew they were available. I was ecstatic! She brought me a whole box. .. and guess what? They were the same black wrapper awful Mars Bars with the Croatian writing on the package!! Meanwhile, my son-in-law had a Canadian relative go to Costco in Toronto and get a case of the sought-after Mars Bars and brought it back as a surprise for me. No surprise: the damn black wrappers peered back at me. I now have more candy bars that I hate than I ever dreamed possible.

I went to Walmart and they have none of any kind. I have thrown in the towel; they beat me down. I give up. With an international family like ours maybe one of you can find the elusive Mars Bar in the WHITE WRAPPER!!!! Good Luck. I won’t hold my breath!

Olivia my grandchild found a lot of information on line. My Mars Bar with the white wrapper

and red letters was discontinued in 2002. No wonder I could never find one. In 2006, the fake

Mars Bar came out in foreign countries dressed in black wrapping, posing as a Mars Bar- but it

was really a Milky Way. They say the Mars Dark is alive and well in Canada. The Mars milk

chocolate is being tested in the U.S. exclusively at Walmart stores. That will be the next mission

for me to go to Walmart; I guess a milk chocolate Mars would be better than no Mars at all.