The Twix is a tasty chocolate bar covered with butter and a thick layer of caramel, while the entire bar is covered in milk chocolate. The size of the Twix candy bar is approximately four inches long and two are packaged together in one wrapper. The brand is owned by Mars Inc., which is one of the largest and most famous candy manufacturers in the world.
It was first created in the UK by Mars Limited in 1967. This is also where Forrest Mars Sr. created the current Mars chocolate bar in the 1930s. In addition, the Slough factory is also the home factory for other brands. such as Snickers, Skittles, Topic and Starburst. After the years following the creation of the Twix bar, it was released throughout Western Europe under the Raider name.
Twix candy finally became available in the US in 1979. It was wrapped in a gold-colored casing with orange text and was branded Twix Cookie Bar. Twix always did this by tastefully advertising in the form of a photo with one of the bars split in two and the caramel coming out slightly in one piece showing its softness.
A period of continued sales in the early 1980s suggested that Mars Inc. was happy with the Twix brand. In fact, the candy brand was not doing quite well in retail and the search began to replace or improve what came with Twix Peanut Butter in 1983. A smooth peanut butter mix was added and the candy. This had a positive reaction in the market.
Mars changed the name of the Raider chocolate bar to Twix during 1991, this was in line with their global brand but resulted in public disdain. An advertising campaign was made with the slogan translated as Raider is now Twix and there was no other change. The public perceived the change as a derisive attempt to revive sales of an old product by rebranding it. It was so much so that the Twix brand became synonymous with cynical rebranding in Germany in terms of both politics and the corporate world.
The name change from Raider to Twix turned into botched marketing. Criticism of Twix’s marketing campaign continued through most of the 20th century as it entered the new millennium. There were perceptions that the brand was being marketed to appeal to young adolescent boys with greedy sexual appetites for women. Many women’s movements described the brand’s advertising as similar to beer commercials in which unlucky young men could attract beautiful women simply by eating a Twix chocolate bar.
Twix was chosen in the early 1990s as part of Mars Inc.’s brand strengthening and overall product development. The plan was to rework the brand to compete in the ice cream space with frozen Twix bars to appeal to consumers. ice cream vendors in shopping malls. The individually wrapped bars that resulted are popular and have boosted sales for Mars confectionery brands outside of their traditional markets.
The most recent controversy related to the Twix brand was in 2007 when Mars Inc. in Europe replaced the whey in its chocolate bars with animal rennet, leading to large public outcry and negative publicity in the press. In late 2007, Mars Inc. stopped using animal rennet in their candy and went back to their old recipe. However, in 2008, a whistleblower noted that animal rennet was still used despite assurances to the contrary made by the company.