Why did Mars change the name of its confectionery Marathon to Snickers in the United Kingdom?

satguru

As it's a lot cheaper to use the same name for products worldwide (and I presume products are now being marketed in many more countries than before) companies try and unify a name whenever they can, much to the annoyance of us who have got used to the old one. Also, for instance Jif cleaning fluid had to become Cif as so many countries didn't use a letter J. By mutual agreement Marathon got the American name Snickers, named after the Mars family's horse, and the UK got to keep Twix, which had been called Raiders elsewhere and has now become Twix worldwide. So you win some, you lose some. Mar 29 06, 9:44 AM

flamingid_ish

I believe the reason is that to stay in line with the rest of the EU we had to comply with their name,the same as JIF became CIF and Ulay became OLAY.tec.etc. :o)) Mar 29 06, 9:52 AM

Baloo55th

There's no EU regulation of trade names - yet, anyway. It does save manufacturers money if they only have one design and print run to do, though. Economic not regulatory. But apart from Italy (who DO use J in the wine Castelli di Jesi at least) which countries don't? Spain, France, all the Teutonic ones, Croatia and Bosnia, Romania, Finland and Estonia, and Albania, they all use J. Welsh only uses it in borrowed words (like Jones!), and Scots and Irish Gaelic don't have it either. I can't see much marketing done in those languages. Greek doesn't have it, but that's a different script anyway. The way the J is pronounced, now that's another matter altogether. Actually, the most often missing letters from alphabets are W, X, Y and Z, with Q in there somewhere as well. I'm confining this to European languages, as the presence or absence of J in Tahitian or Nauruan isn't going to affect things. Mar 29 06, 4:23 PM

Baloo55th

Incidentally, Cif is still Jif in some places, and it's Vim in others, and even Handy Andy. http://www.unilever.com/ourbrands/homecare/Cif.asp and http://www.jif.se/site2004/list.asp?TipsID=2 (which despite the 2004 is referred to from the Unilever site above. And I still won't buy Snickers - and there's a lot more that won't too. Mar 29 06, 4:30 PM

satguru

I'll refine what I meant, even where there may be a J letter it's actually the sound we use in English that isn't in many languages so the letter often sounds like a Y instead. What happened to Vim powder then? I presume Unilever own both but unless they suddenly stopped making Vim when my back was turned they will cause a lot of confusion having a powder and totally different fluid. And Handy Andy are tissues, presumably also owned by Unilever. Mar 29 06, 6:15 PM

Baloo55th

The liquid product is Jif in Sweden at least, Cif in most places, Vim in others, Viss (!) in others again, and according to the Unilever site, it's also Handy Andy. As to Vim powder, it's still available in India at least. The change from Jif could possibly be to avoid confusion with other products - like those little plastic lemons or a brand of peanut butter owned by Smucker Foods (Jif sounds better for eating than Smucker, doesn't it?). Or am I overrating their desire to protect the public from squirting cleaning fluid on their pancakes? Mar 30 06, 5:07 AM

Baloo55th

The letter C has varied pronounciations too. In the UK, it'll probably be said 's', but some people won't get it right. France will be 's', but in Germany it's more likely to be 'k' or 'ts'. In Italy it'll be 'ch' (that's 'tsh'), and in most of Spain 'th'. J would be 'j', 'y', 'zh' or 'kh'. Any improvement? Mar 30 06, 5:11 AM

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Who did the Mars Candy Corporation name the Snickers bar after? Why is a marathon 26 miles long? Why did the 1999 Mars mission fail to enter orbit and crash into the surface instead? How did the Snickers candy bar get its name?

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