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If you think of the Mars, Inc. candy company, the first candy bar that is likely to come to mind is the world famous Snickers bar. Frank C. Mars and his wife Ethyl Mars started the largest candy company in the world in the early 1900's and expanded it to become one of the largest privately owned companies in the world today. Mars, Inc. has introduced many of the world's favorite candies over the years, including the Milky Way bar, M&M's, 3 Musketeers and, of course, the hugely popular Snickers bar.

Mars, Inc. also created the wildly popular Mars bar in 1936. It had a European version that was sweeter and without almonds. It held the title of most popular candy bar of the 20th century until 2000 when the Mars Company renamed it Snickers Almond. In just a couple of years sales dropped off drastically and the Snickers bar rose to the ranks of the most popular bar in the world and best selling candy bar in the history of the candy industry.

The Snickers bar has undergone a few changes in its illustrious history. In 2004, the king size version was replaced by a twin bar package. This twin bar package design was geared towards the push by the food industry to reduce consumer consumption of sugar, salt and far and limit "empty" calorie intake. There is still the same amount of candy in the twin package, but with the two half size bars, the option exists to share the candy or save the balance of it for another snack time.

So, what inspired this stroke of brilliance on the part of Frank and Ethyl Mars to rename an already successful candy bar? The Mars family had interests that extended beyond their love of confections. They also owned a 2000 acre horse farm in Tennessee appropriately named Milky Way Farms where they bred and raised prized horses. In fact, one of the Milky Way Farms horses, Gallahadion, won the Kentucky Derby in 1940.

It was their love of horses that resulted in this inspirational name change. In keeping with Ethyl Mars passion for her animals, Snickers was the name of one of the much loved horses on the farm.

The next time you bite into a Snickers bar, or any other favorite candy treat for that matter, remember, there was likely a lot of thought and inspiration put into naming the candy; almost as much as went into creating the formula for the candy bar itself. It takes more than just the right combination of ingredients to create a best seller in the candy world. It takes the touch of a top-notch marketer to select an appealing name, a catchy jingle or eye-catching packaging to draw in the crowds. For the Snickers bar, it was just a question of using a little horse-sense.

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