New Mars Candy – First in 20 Years

Have you heard about the new Mars candy? It’s their first new invention in twenty years. It’s called FLING™ and it certainly has created a buzz around the new product. But not quite in the way you might imagine.

The new candy “fingers” — which are currently only available in California — were in development for two years. The concept? To create a “permissive indulgence” for women. But women around the internet are wondering exactly whose permission they need to enjoy a little bit of chocolate.

With slogans (via Ad Age) such as “It’s not cheating if you don’t feel guilty,” Your boyfriend doesn’t need to know,” and “Pleasure yourself” one has to question exactly what Mars is trying to tell its target female audience. But there’s no doubt about the responses. They range from incredulous to downright irritated at the message being sent.

In “Men Are From ‘Mars,’ Women Are From ‘Hershey’” Holly Buchanan notes that the language is judgmental:

[T]his is something you shouldn’t be doing because your boyfriend wouldn’t approve. Is that really the message you want to send?

And over at Lip-Sticking, Mary Schmidt finds:

…the whole – um – positioning of the candy to be shallow, silly…and worst of all, boring. (And most likely dreamed up by men.)

Hortense at Jezebel also mentions the seemingly shameful ideas behind the wording:

Fling pushes the notion that candy buying is something to be slightly discreet and embarrassed about.

Even NPR catches on to the innuendo in the advertising:

The word “finger” is an industry term for a long, slim confection, Mars spokesman Ryan Bowling says, but with ads that invite you to “Pleasure yourself” in pink lettering, consumers might come to other conclusions.

But NPR also reports that Bowling says the campaign has been “received well so far.” Looking at the current FLING site, it appears that they have toned it down a little, opting for “Naughty…but not that naughty.”™ And there’s no mention of a boyfriend or cheating. So did Mars listen to the initial feedback? Let’s hope that they heard some of the comparisons with Hershey and Dove and decided to be a little wild…but not too wild.

Below is the commercial for the U.S. launch of the candy (it was first tested in Australia). What do you think – does it have a good hook, or does the campaign try a little too hard to be “edgy”?

image: Newscom