Slogans

Posted by R. Berg on November 01, 2001

In Reply to: A Mars a day helps you work, rest, and play posted by Bob on October 31, 2001

: : : The answer given (this is the first item listed on your entire page) is "UK origin" advertisement for a chocolate bar.

: : : Growing up in the US, I heard "A Milky Way a day helps you work, rest, and play" on television.

: : : Isn't M&M/Mars a US company? I know the Mars bar in the UK is the same as a Milky Way in the US (the UK Milky Way is called 3 Musketeers in the US; in the US, a Mars bar is nougat, almonds, and chocolate).

: : : Just wondering.

: : It is an American company, but a Google search turns up 105 mentions with 'Mars' versus just one with 'Milky Way'; and many of them claim a specific creator for the phrase - Murray Walker, the just-retired British motor racing commentator (and obviously part-time advertising copywriter). So I think it's most likely that the company used it first in the UK, and then adapted in for the home USA market.

: All these decades, and nobody seems to have challenged the fundamental lunacy of the slogan: how on earth could a candy bar help you Rest? Granted the sugar and fat may supply energy for Work and Play... but one would have to picture some sort of nougat-induced stupor (a diabetic coma?) (can't-get-out-of-bed extreme obesity?) to connect the confection with Rest.

Shall we begin to demand logic in advertising? There isn't any evidence that the picturesque landscapes of the western U.S. are really Marlboro country, either. Classically, cowboys rolled their own.

• Err... 2 things Alex 11/02/01