Women say 'Snickers satisfies'

02/02/2005

Could Snickers hungriest fan turn out to be a woman?

When it comes to candy bars, they don’t come more macho than Snickers, a major sponsor of the National Football League, reports USA Today. But a funny thing happened after Mars started positioning the candy to men. Women, who traditionally dominate household purchasing decisions, are becoming bigger purchasers of the 74-year-old candy bar concocted from peanut butter nougat, caramel, peanuts and milk chocolate.

Of those very familiar with the Snickers TV commercials, 17 percent like them "a lot," slightly below the Ad Track average of 21 percent. But women nearly doubled the percentage of men who gave the ads the top rating: 23 percent vs. 12 percent. By age, the spots scored highest in likeability with consumers 18 to 24 at 22 percent.

The venerable Snickers brand – America’s No. 1 seller and named for a favorite horse of the Mars family in 1930 – could use a boost. Snickers sales dropped 6.1 percent at supermarkets, drugstores and mass merchants, excluding Wal-Mart, for the 52-week period ended Dec. 26, according to Information Resources Inc.