The History of Snickers Bars

Do you know the history behind this popular candy bar? Snickers bars were invented by Frank and Ethel Mars in 1930. Frank had already created Milky Way bars in 1922, and eight years later, he and his second wife (Ethel) were getting ready to roll out a new version that included peanuts. Ethel’s favorite racehorse had passed away shortly before the planned debut, so the couple named the new candy bar after him. His name was Snickers. (Interestingly, the candy debuted under the name Marathon bar in the UK to avoid using a moniker that rhymed with “knickers,” and it remained under that name until 1990, when the Mars company changed it to Snickers for uniformity). Today, Snickers bars are so popular during Halloween that the company has to start making them months in advance! Over the years, they’ve also experimented with different flavors and fillings, including peanut butter, almond butter, maple butter, and 2008’s Snickers Charged, a bar that included taurine and 60 milligrams of caffeine. Then in 2020, Mars made the largest Snickers bar ever: it weighed over 2 tons and briefly held a Guinness World Record for the largest chocolate nut bar – until a giant Reese’s Take 5 beat it two weeks later. While they’re a little smaller than they used to be (the size was reduced by 12% in 2012 to help combat the childhood obesity epidemic), Snickers bars remain an extremely popular candy and are one of America’s Halloween favorites.