Ladies, Mars Wants You to Have a Fling

'Naughty' new candy bar has really, really, really suggestive ads
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 17, 2009 1:48 PM CDT
Ladies, Mars Wants You to Have a Fling
One of the promotional images for Mars's new Fling candy bar. An advertising expert finds the campaign more "trashy" than seductive.   (Courtesy of Taylor Global Inc.)

Mars has introduced its first new candy bar in 20 years—and a racy marketing campaign to go along with it, NPR reports. The Fling is a "chocolate finger" of meringue and truffle painted with a "shimmering" chocolate coating, and both the 85-calorie size and the very pink, faux scandalous advertisements are aimed squarely at women.

From a commercial that seems to open with strangers having sex in a dressing room to the campaign's slogan—"Pleasure yourself"—some think that Mars is coming on too strong. "The overall campaign feels weird, it feels creepy," says the author of a book on marketing to women. So far, the Fling is available only in California.
(More marketing stories.)

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