From the Candy Aisle: Snik Snak

Product: Snik Snak
Company - M&M/Mars
Years - 1973 - Late 70's


Remember Christmas, back in the 80's, when you'd open presents from relatives who you only saw a few times a year? What did they get you? Chances are, like most of us, they bought what they thought boys my age liked: He-Man, GI Joes, Transformers........but there was a catch. They were going to spend as little on your gift as possible. So instead of Transformers, you got the cheap knockoff called "Convertors" (it's a real thing...look it up). Or "Action Force" instead of GI Joe.

And you smiled, and thanked them, as you were taught to do. Then, a week later, they were blown up by firecrackers in a battle with the REAL GI Joe/Transformers/He-Man.

Knock offs. Nobody likes them.

But enough about my disappointing holidays. Lets talk about food knockoffs.  Specifically, Lets talk about the Snik Snak.

Image by Jason Liebig - Check out his history of Snik Snak here.

Snik Snak was created in 1973 by M&M/Mars to go up against Hershey's wildly successful Kit Kat bar.  And by "created",  I mean directly ripped off from.

Seriously, it's the same thing. A series of waffers covered in chocolate.......even the freaking name is a rip off! I honestly have no idea how Hershey didn't file a lawsuit against them.
I'm equally surprised that it lasted for at least 5 years on the market.
There is nothing original about this.
Oh, sure, it's 6 smaller sticks instead of 4 larger ones. Whoop-de-do.

These were a little before my time, so thankfully I didn't have to suffer through the crushing disappointment of getting one of these from a parent for a snack, or worse yet, on Halloween in my basket.

I guess there's a reason Kit Kats are still around today and Snik Snaks aren't.

It's probably the same reason I don't really talk to my uncle Sal anymore, either. I'm sure he had a good reason for getting me the "Treasures of the Temple Warriors" action figures instead of the He-Man toy I wanted back in 86.

From the Candy Aisle: Marathon Bar

Product: Marathon Bar
Company: Mars Inc.
Years: 1973-1981

Image by Jason Liebig

Talk to Jason Liebig.
Visit his outstanding blog called CollectingCandy.com. Specifically, his post about Marathon Bars. I mean, the man lives, sleeps, and breathes Marathon Bars. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in his life, he owned a pet named "Marathon". A miniature pony perhaps? Not really sure. But he's got the entire low down on the candy bar everyone loved and now longs for.

Me? I've never even eaten one. Well, I guess I can't say I've never eaten one. I was around at the same time they were, for a few years anyway, so I guess my parents could have given me one in those years before I start forming meaningful memories. It's totally possible. So I guess I should really say "I've never eaten a Marathon Bar" in the same way I'd say "I've never eaten a spider" (FACT: people do sometimes sleep with their mouths open). Hey, Things happen in our lives sometimes that we for whatever reason just don't remember. I mean, I must have had a run in with a Marathon Bar at some point.....right?  They sure do sound like they were popular from what people tell me.

It was an 8 inch braided caramel inside, covered in chocolate, with the iconic red wrapper. On the wrapper? A ruler, so you knew without a shadow of a doubt you were getting what was advertised. Genius. I wish other companies that supply food based on length did that same thing. Subway, I'm looking in your direction.

image by 197?now

An interesting note about Marathon's TV commercials: they featured John Wayne's son Patrick as Marathon John who would regularly confront villain Quick Claude.

So that's all I got on the Marathon Bar. It was a candy bar that I certainly needed to add to the shelves here at Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries, even if I've never had one that I can remember. But I wish I had. They look delicious. There is a similar bar in the UK called the Curly Wurly. I'll have to contact my UK friends* and see if they can hook me up.

*(Note to self - make some UK friends).

Until then, I'll have to keep eating the same old boring candy bars I've been eating for the last 30+ years. And possibly a few spiders.**

**(Second Note to self - keep your yap shut while sleeping).

From the Candy Aisle: Summit Bars

Product: Summit Cookie Bars
Company: Mars
Years: 1977-1984

Image by Petes_Old_Food on Flickr

Remember Summit Bars? I mean, do you really REALLY remember them? Because I can't say I without a shadow of a doubt remember them, but when looking at the wrapper, it seems vaguely familiar to me. Like when you're out drinking with your friends, and you see a girl at the bar that you swear you know...you're not sure how or why, but you know her. Maybe she was in your 5th hour Algebra class in Highschool, or maybe you hooked up with her in college after a night of consuming too many Irish Car Bombs. You were never one to say no to free drinks, so when Tony "The Tank" kept buying round after round of shots for everyone, it was bound to take it's toll, and by god, it did.
Maybe you stumbled up to her and offered to buy her a drink, and she too, in her inebriated state, took the drink. You began to talk about whatever.....how cute she was....how awesome the Dave Matthews concert was that you were at.....that your dad works for NASA (he really doesn't)....and you hit it off. You stumble to a few more bars with her before eventually making it back to your place. You remember kissing her at the door and stumbling to your room, but then BOOM, lights out, power down...you passed out cold. When the sun came up, she was leaving. You barely mumbled "Hey, what's your name again?" before she bolted through the door, leaving you confused and a bit curious if anything happened at all. But the faint image of her has always stuck with you.

And now, as you are staring at this girl at the bar, some 15 years later, you are trying to pry that image from the mental files of your mind. Is it her? Isn't it her? God, I don't know.....what was her name? Lisa? Rhonda? Do I really remember her at all? Or do I just think I do?

Yeah, that's pretty much what the Summit Bar is to me. It looks familiar. But I don't know if I ever hooked up with it.

I meant ate it.

From what I've read (my memory isn't so great, remember?), the Summit bar was 2 waffers covered in peanuts, then drenched in chocolate. Doesn't sound like a candy bar I could pick out of a lineup or taste test. Guess that's why Mars discontinued it.

Who out there remembers these? Help me fill in the blanks, as in my brain, they are sketchy at best.

From the Candy Aisle: Forever Yours

"Forever Yours" Candy Bars
Company: Mars
Years - 1936-1979 (and beyond???)

I enjoy browsing old Newspapers in my spare time, especially the Sunday papers where all the advertising took place. I often run across little known products that I had never known existed, and sometimes, I discover they've been under my nose the entire time (often just with a name change, sometimes wearing those fakey looking plastic glasses with the attached nose and mustache for added anonymity).

Case in point: I ran across this ad in a mid 70's Milwaukee Journal:

"Huh?" I said out loud. "Forever Yours?" How did I miss this one?

Part of the reason, as it turns out, is that the Forever Yours bar was around for a long time (some 44 years), then disappeared from shelves when I was only 4, and at the time, my note taking skills were not quite up to par yet (as you can see).

Forever Yours was an early offshoot of the Milky Way bar. In 1926, Milky Way came in two flavors, chocolate and vanilla.  In 1936, the chocolate and vanilla were separated, naming the vanilla "Forever Yours", and it lasted until 1979 and then was gone from shelves forever.

Or was it?

As it turns out, it was not. It reappeared in 1989 with some new clothes, a fresh coat of paint, and a legally notarized name change. It was now "Milky Way Dark". Years later, it was renamed again to "Milky Way Midnight" which is still available today.

So if you loved Forever Yours as a kid, just go and pick up a Milky Way Dark.

So should this candy bar really be here, since you can technically still get it? Well, yes, as Forever Yours, in name, is dead. It may live on with a different name....a different look.....a different hairstyle (I'm glad it didn't go with the perm), but it's not Forever Yours.
So it's being stocked here at GBNF Groceries.


(Here's the old pre-1950's version)

From the Candy Aisle: PB Max

PB Max
Company: Mars
Year: 1989/90

I have to admit, I completely forgot about PB Max. Maybe because it wasn't around for very long. But once the words "PB Max" were uploaded to my brain again it all came back. The delicious taste of creamy peanut butter and oats on a square whole grain cookie, then the whole thing dipped in chocolate.....the annoying commercials reminding me that PB didn't stand for "Piggy Banks, or "Polka Band", or "Pink Baboon", or even "Portly Ballerina". It all came back. Oh how I miss you, Max. Is it ok if I call you Max? No? My apologies.

So why did the PB Max Go away? Rumor has it (According to former Mars executive Alfred Poe), that PB Max was discontinued due to the Mars family's distaste for peanut butter, even though in it's short run the candy bar racked up $50 million in sales.
Now there is one serious dislike for peanut butter. Maybe Peanut allergies ran in the family and they were just watching out for their own.
Or maybe they just wanted me to be standing in the candy aisle one day in the mid 90's, utterly confused, looking like a fool, trying to figure out what the hell happened to my beloved PM Max.
Or maybe it was neither of those things.
Yeah, probably not.