Want a new excuse to indulge in the chocolate, caramel, nougat, peanut goodness that is a Snickers? I’ve got one for you.
The kind folks at Snickers sent me an awesome marketing package to let me know about their new Snackonomics game. In addition to four big Snickers bars, they sent me some cool Candy Addict stuff.
Before I even tried Mars’ Fling, I was already smiling. The wrapper says “Naughty, but not that naughty.” Oh really? Do go on. The website explains that though the Fling is made of “premium chocolate” this little pleasure won’t make you feel too guilty because each finger of the Fling is only 85 calories.
Well, the packaging is fun and the concept is intriguing, but how’s the flavor? I tried two kinds of Flings: the milk chocolate and the hazelnut.
Each finger looks similar to a Twix, so I was expecting that kind of crunch and consistency. Wrong! Airy, whipped chocolate rests on a very light, brittle honeycomb-like bar, and then the whole thing is coated in chocolate. When I bit into it, the Fling snapped and crunched audibly. But the crunchy bit isn’t anything like the cookie crunch of a Twix – it’s hard to explain the texture except to say that the whole thing is really, really airy. I found them really fun to eat – unusual, and interesting.
Another guest review from our friend Laura Kaspick.
Like fellow Candy Addicts Caitlin, Robbie, and Laurie, I recently had the pleasure of attending the All Candy Expo. One of the products I was most excited to get my hands on was the Limited Edition Coconut M&M’s. As soon as the show floor opened, I eagerly made my way to the Mars booth to get myself a sample. Imagine my disappointment when I was told they wouldn’t be available at the Expo! Although I did recover (it’s pretty tough to be in a bad mood when surrounded by free candy), I was still thinking about my loss when I attended a Mars press conference later that day.
Midway through the presentation, Mars president Todd Lachman turned his focus to upcoming product releases, including the Coconut M&M’s. I half tuned him out as I wasn’t interested in hearing about Coconut M&M’s, I was interested in eating Coconut M&M’s! But I quickly snapped to attention when I heard “…and actually, here in my pocket, I happen to have a sample…” and then which lucky member of the audience do you think he threw them to??? ME!!!! I couldn’t believe my good fortune, and now I am going to share my good fortune with you by telling you what you have to look forward to when they come out this summer.
Though a new limited edition flavor of M&M’s is nothing out of the ordinary, I was surprised by Mars’ latest release of Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M’s, an upcoming promotion for the newest Transformers film.
When I think of limited edition M&M’s, I immediately think of variations on either the original or peanut variety. In fact, I was so expecting this to be the peanut sort that it wasn’t until after I tasted them that I asked myself “Where’s the peanut?”
You rarely see Mars play with the almond or peanut butter M&M’s flavors, leaving all their marketing and sales to the more popular varieties. I mean, I can’t even remember the last time I saw a commercial for peanut butter M&M’s. So when I discovered it was one of their less-advertised flavors that was being given a limited edition makeover, I was pleasantly surprised.
I picked up a complimentary bag of these at the All Candy Expo, but I have also seen them in drugstores, so they’re readily available for purchase.
Well, Day 1 of the All Candy Expo is officially over, so I thought I’d share with you the most amusing part of the day. At the Mars press conference, we got to see this very funny “public service announcement” featuring Neil Patrick Harris. It’s part of the Real Chocolate Relief Act we reported on a couple of weeks ago.
Just to refresh your memory: from now until September, Mars is giving away 250,000 free coupons for full size chocolate on Fridays at realchocolate.com. That’s a total of 7 million bars of free chocolate! In addition, there will be special events at various cities, and some great savings on Mars chocolate at your local stores. So go check it out and enjoy some good Mars chocolate – still mockolate-free!