By N2H

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• History of Gemini Sign
• History of Pringles
• History of Discman
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• History of Mars Chocolate
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History of Gemini Sign

In astrology the Gemini sign is the third sign of the zodiac year, and affects people born between May 21st and June 21st. In the astrological world of the zodiac, Gemini is considered the child of the zodiacal year, because being a sign with two personalities, Gemini people are considered a bit playful, alternating from one course to the next quickly and without too much thought about it.

Historically, the signs of the zodiac are relatively new in recent history, having their origins in Ancient Greek times, although many historians have proved that the key signs of the zodiac are actually much older, and can be traced to the very beginnings of human writing. Back in those times, much of what was written were historical accounts, so we can be certain that the signs of the zodiac probably predate writing, to the time when oral records of humanity’s history were passed from generation to generation almost unchanged for thousands of years.

Some historians have speculated cave drawings of people may also be an early representation of the gods and the signs. So whilst the zodiac signs, like Gemini, seem to be quite a recent discovery, they have in fact been with us for much longer, and in the eyes of astrology believers, proves that the traits and destinies inherent in zodiac signs have a long history of being known and believed, and were not just made up in recent history as is often alleged by people who see astrology as nonsense. Recent findings suggest that astrology as a religion and method of divining the future is much older than most established religions.

Amongst the Greek zodiac signs, Gemini is special, and can be traced to the story of two twin brothers, Castor and Polydeuces (also known as Pollux), one mortal, the other immortal, who were born to Queen Leda of Sparta. Castor was mortal, and his father was King Tyndareus, whilst Polydeuces was fathered by Zeus, the King of the Gods. Inseparable in life, they remain inseparable in death, and are depicted by the constellation that bears the name Gemini, with the stars Castor and Pollux forming the heads.

The story of how Castor and Polydeuces came to be in the heavens is an epic worthy of the times. Castor was an expert on horseback and with a bow, whilst Polydeuces could use his fists to box. The twins were also with Jason on his quest to bring back the Golden Fleece, but it was long after, when the two were tired of their adventures and ready to marry and have children that their story really becomes their own. The twins fell in love with the daughters of Leucippus, Phoebe and Hilaeira, who were unfortunately promised to the sons of Aphareus, Lynceus and Idas.

Castor and Polydeuces kidnapped the sisters and brought them to Sparta where they were quickly married, and within a short time expecting children of their own. The sons of Lynceus were determined to steal back their promised brides and ambushed Castor and Polydeuces, and when Castor was lying dead, Polydeuces pleaded with Zeus to give him his life back. Zeus agreed, but only on condition they share Polydeuces immortality, thus the twins spend half of their day in Hades, and half of their day in Olympus, and mortals only see them when they rise from Hades to Olympus early in the dawn morning.

Despite our knowledge of Gemini as representing the brothers Castor and Polydeuces, or Castor and Pollux as Roman people knew them, in fact the story isn’t directly about two heroes. The true meaning of the story relates the stars, known by the same name as the boys, which are the first to rise at dawn, a little before the sun obscures them, and more importantly, the two stars only rise in spring. Thus, the Gemini sign is particularly special because of it’s connection with rebirth and the spring equinox.

The Gemini sign though is restricted to the northern hemisphere, with almost all ancient civilizations, from Asia, the Europe, North Africa, and North America giving special significance to the rising of the twin stars during spring. Even people who have migrated over the equator in Africa and Asia still have myths that relate to twins that fight to be immortal, yet in Australia, where the oldest and most isolated branch of humanity exists, the Aboriginal people have no knowledge of immortal twins, suggesting the myths shared by so many cultures were formed in the north after humanity spread from Africa 50-75,000 years ago.

Before the Greeks and Romans told the story of Castor and Polydeuces, other civilizations around them were already very familiar with the twin stars. Ancient Egyptians saw the twin stars as two goats who return to their goat herd at dawn, and included the two stars in their Ramissede Hour Tables, a scientifically useful measurement of time during the day.

Nobody is sure when the ancient Egyptians first started studying astronomy and creating myths around the stars, but we do know that at the same time the ancient Babylonians referred to the twin stars as Gilgamesh and Enkidu, together known as Mastabba Galgal. They were two heroes, also twin brothers, who fought a series of epic battles against the gods as they sought to attain immortality. Curiously, they were worshipped for the same reasons as the Greeks leading to the theory the Greeks borrowed the story of the Gemini twins Babylon, and then changed them to suit their own history.

Earlier still in ancient Vedic books from India the twin stars appear as Nakula and Sahadeva, two of the Ashvin horseman of Indian folklore. The Mithuna, an Indian constellation in which the two horseman appear, is an almost exact match with the Greek constellation of Gemini, and can hardly be coincidental, so Greek zodiac signs must have their origins in the ancient oral history of humanity long before writing was invented.

Related Histories:

• History of the Gemini Constellation

• History of Zodiac Signs

• History of Cosmetology

• History of Wal-Mart

• History of Snickers Candy Bar

History of Pringles

Pringles are a potato and rice flour snack chip made and marketed by Procter and Gamble, a global manufacturing corporation headquartered in Cincinnati. The Pringles brand is sold in over 140 nations around the planet, and is worth over $1 billion per year in revenue. Pringles chips are sold primarily in a distinctive aluminum coated can with the brand logo depicting a character with large bushy mustache prominently displayed. The standard flavors include Original, Sour Cream and
Onion, Cheese, BBQ, Hot and Spicy, and Cheese and Onion.

Potato chips are a relatively new culinary invention, they were first made by an American chef George Speck in 1853 in New York who had prepared a plate of French fries for a diner, who subsequently returned them complaining they were too thick, and the worst fries a chef could ever prepare. Deciding to teach the diner a lesson, Speck cut the fries too thin to be picked up with a fork, and had the thin fries delivered to the diner. Happily for us, but sadly for George Speck, the diner was delighted and soon the entire restaurant requested George’s new fries.

By the turn of the century restaurants and pretzel companies all over America were selling salted potato chips as a snack food, and in the 1920s the mechanical potato peeler was invented, previously all potato chips had been peeled by hand. Sales of potato chips nationally only occurred in the 1930s, and after the second world war potato chips were as common as candy on grocery store shelves. European nations adopted the potato chip after being exposed to the recipe by US servicemen.

In the 1960s an American named Alexander Liepa who was working for the US Army invented a potato chip that wasn’t peeled and cut, instead it was made from potato flakes and reconstituted into the shape of a chip. The idea had been to create a snack that could be made in remote US bases without the expense of transporting American grown potatoes from the US. Liepa’s technique wasn’t used by the US Army, and he was able to take his patent to Procter & Gamble in 1968, who readily supported his recipe, creating a product they initially named Pringle’s Newfangled Potato Chips.

Workers from P&G have mentioned that the name Pringle’s, or just Pringles as they are now known, was picked for its similarity to a street named Pringle Street in Finneytown, Ohio, simply because the name sounded pleasing. P&G marketing staff believed that their sales team would have no trouble introducing Pringles because the name was easily pronounced and remembered. An urban myth suggests the name was picked randomly from a Cincinnati phone book, again for its pleasing sound, although this has never been proven.

Producing Pringles required developing new machinery and techniques, and involves mixing potato flakes, rice flour, water, and other ingredients until a smooth dough is made, then cutting the dough into thin round pieces that are placed onto individual baking trays with the saddle shape pre-formed. The chips are then fried very quickly, in a machine invented by science fiction writer Gene Wolfe, just enough to cook but not enough to brown. Seasoning is added immediately after, before the Pringle chip is sent to a stacking machine that bundles several together for packing in the distinctive Pringles containers.

The can used to package Pringles chips had to be specially designed as well, Pringle chips are quite fragile, completely unlike regular potato chips that can be stored in paper or plastic bags, Pringles would crush and break too easily. The task of designing the container came to Fredric Baur who worked in the food storage department of P&G, plastics weren’t common in those days so Baur designed a foil lined can made by rolling lengths of cardboard into a cylindrical tube. The tube protected the chips which are stacked, thus adding preventing much breakage.

The aluminum foil inside the can prevents outside air from entering the can and keeps the Pringles chips fresh longer, a fact that really appealed to the Baur who requested that some of his ashes be buried in a Pringles container. In March 2008 Baur passed away and his family honored his request, splitting a small part of his ashes and placing them in a Pringles can which were then interred alongside the remainder of his ashes.

Whilst Pringles were initially only sold in selected regions close to Cincinnati, by 1976 the chips were being marketed nationally with an advertising slogan “Once you pop, you can’t stop”. The pop in the slogan refers to the distinctive popping sound heard when a can of Pringles is first opened, and is caused by excess air in the canister that helps to keep the chips fresh. Owing to their potato and rice mixture, Pringles have a taste that is in some ways less harsh than regular potato chips, and market research by P&G suggested that this made Pringles a much easier chip to eat.

In fact, the recipe for Pringles chips places the snack in a different tax category as regular chips, in 2008 a London court found in favor of P&G after the UK tax authorities imposed a 15% sales tax (VAT) on Pringles chips as they would do for any other potato derived product. P&G’s lawyers argued that Pringles are actually only comprised of 42% potato, the remainder being rice flour, and thus should be categorized as a food for tax purposes and be exempt from sales tax. The ruling had important repercussions since Pringles are priced higher than regular potato chips and the sales tax would have made the product uncompetitive.

Related Histories:

• History of Things

• History of Mcdonald’s

• History of Sesame Street

• History of Kokopelli

• History of Ice Skating

History of Discman

The Discman, or more correctly known as the Sony Discman, was a range of portable compact disc players powered by batteries and with a set of headphones that allowed their owners to listen to music while on the move or away from a mains power supply. The Discman product line went thru several evolutions, including the addition of radio reception, and the ability to play Writable and Re-Writable discs that could include music in traditional digital format, or in mp3 format.

Personal audio equipment, especially miniature radios that could receive medium wave (MW), short wave, and frequency modulated (FM) transmissions really became popular in the 1960s, although radio only permitted listening to music that was broadcast by a radio station according to their playlist. Demand for portable cassette players in the 1970s that allowed users to play music of their own choice was high, but most players were the size of a small shoebox.

Sony had been one of the first companies to introduce a miniature radio to the market in the late 1950s, and a corporate culture of miniaturization developed resulting in the first Sony Walkman coming to market in 1980. The Walkman was an immediate hit due to being only slightly bigger than a tape cassette, and encouraged executives at Sony to think about a compact disc player that would achieve the same aims.

In October 1982 the very first compact disc player was released to the market, the CDP-101, and was marketed by Sony though Sony had announced only two months previously that Philips, CBS/Sony, and Polygram had jointly developed the compact disc technology. The very first commercially available audio compact disc was Billy Joel’s 52nd Street being released on the CBS/Sony label. By 1983 only 1000 titles had been released and Sony who had invested a lot of research into the product were keen to see compact disc players being sold in the same numbers as vinyl record players.

In 1983 Katsuaki Tsurushima, head of Sony’s Engineering Development Department came up with the idea of creating a portable CD player which could be powered by batteries, be transportable, and lead to increased demand. His hope was to create a CD player that would be no bigger than three or four CD cases stacked together and which could be sold at a price that even students could afford. The idea became known as the CD CD project, a mouthful that meant compact disc cost down project.

With the approval of Nobuyuki Idei, head of the Audio Division, Kozo Ohsone, head of the General Audio Division, and Akio Morita, Sony’s CEO, a meeting was held in Tsurushima’s department with Sony’s best and brightest engineering staff. A block of wood measuring 13cm by 4cm was held up in the air and Ohsone exhorted the technical staff to design a CD player exactly this size. Looks weren’t important, Sony wanted to be first on the market with a portable compact disc player.

At the time this sort of miniaturization was almost considered impossible with the technology of the time but by November of 1984 Sony engineers had managed to fit a CD player into a case a little smaller than the block of wood, and that month the D-50, internally nicknamed as the Discman,was Sony’s first portable CD player released to Japanese music lovers. It was priced at 49,800 yen which was actually half the cost of manufacturing the product but Sony were confident the D-50 would become profitable.

The Sony D-50 never shipped with the Discman branding but it is nevertheless the spiritual ancestor of all Sony Discman portable CD players. Curiously, Sony D-50s didn’t ship with their own power supply or the ability to fit batteries. Instead, separate battery packs or power supplies could be purchased, with different models of power supply for different purposes. The most popular being a battery case that  this was a separate device that could be added to the D-50 and included either 6 C size batteries or a custom rechargeable battery, and a strap for carrying the entire kit.

In those early days CD players were highly susceptible to skipping, the D-50 being no different, and essentially meaning that Sony’s first portable CD player was only portable in the sense that it could be taken from place to place, and using this first generation Discman while on the move required very careful walking, certainly jogging or other exercise activities weren’t practical with this device although it didn’t stop sales people and marketers from promoting the D-50 as an on the go CD player.

The technology didn’t improve substantially with international models of the the Sony Discman being much the same as the D-50, in that all required a separate battery pack or power supply, but they did vary in features and looks. The Discman D-100 is paticularly noted for being slightly slimmer than the D-50 yet packing a full range of software enhancements that effectively rendered it no different from top end home CD players, including track programing and selective repeat.

By 1987 compact displayer technology had improved to the extent the Discman D-20 was able to offer a built-in battery compartment that would take both a factory supplied rechargeable battery, or the option of using 4 AA batteries. An optional remote control unit could also be used allowing the D-20 Discman to be used in place of a Hi-Fi CD player. By 1992 Sony had produced the Discman D-66 which incorporated a ‘dual damper anti-shock mechanism’ where the optical mechanism and motor was suspended on springs inside the case, but also damped with small fluid filled rubber bags.

The early 2000s saw the growth of the MP3 music format and a significant design change in Sony Discman’s which were now round portable CD players and incorporated Sony’s ‘G Protection’ anti-skipping system. The explosive growth of computer chips for mobile phones, laptop computers and other consumer electronics made it feasible for Sony to develop an anti-skip technology that would read ahead and store data into onboard memory for real-time playback. The technique was self correcting and skips in data would be read again before play resulting in a mostly skip free experience for the listener.

The Discman nickname was finally retired in favor of CD Walkman in 2000, around the same time Sony introduced the new ‘W’ logo, composed of several joined together dots, for the Walkman range of products. The Discman trademark is still owned by Sony who reserve the right to resurrect the brand in the future.

Related Histories:

• History of Things

• History of Mcdonald’s

• History of Sesame Street

• History of Kokopelli

• History of Ice Skating

History of Technology

As humans, we continue to strive to make our lives more fulfilling. Our quest for knowledge and understanding nature around us is inherent in all of us. Technology in a sense can be defined as inventing tools and advancing knowledge. In addition, technology also utilizes the cumulative knowledge and technologies already available to further advance our knowledge and build upon or discover new tools which can be utilized by mankind.

Defining Technology Through the Ages

Since the beginning of man, we have utilized tools and developed technology- such as stones to kill prey and butcher meat. Since different technologies have come to define the different ages of man and civilization, here is the history of technology based on specific ages.

The Stone Age

During the Stone Age, which many consider lasted from about 2.5 million years ago as humans started to develop to about 3300 BC, which began the Bronze Age; there were several technologies that developed. While they required little knowledge to harness these technologies, nevertheless they were instrumental in keeping our species from becoming extinct. Ultimately, the technologies and knowledge that was gained throughout the first 2.5 million years of existence helped humans evolve from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, where increasingly sophisticated tools and knowledge were harnessed. Some of the technologies that were developed during the Stone Age include the use of stones for killing prey and creating axes. The ability to harness fire (about 1.5 million years ago), clothing (about 100,000 years ago), the ability to domesticate animals (occurring about 15,000 years ago and other inventions such as the bow and arrow (9,000 BC), Agriculture (8,000 BC) and the wheel (4,000 BC).

The Bronze Age

The Bronze Age, which roughly lasted from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, was a time when civilization started to coalesce around the Fertile Crescent and spread outward to Europe, Asia and African. The Bronze Age gets its name from a time when metals such as copper and tin were being used to create weapons and tools. The technology to smelt metal ores into tools was a definite advancement from previous stone tools being used. Some of the technologies that were advanced during this time included the further domestication of animals and agricultural innovations, the chariot (about 2,000 BC), the use of salt and the construction of permanent settlements- many of which still stand today.

The Iron Age

The Iron Age usually dates from 1200 BC to 500 BC, which is the start of the Roman Empire. During this time period, the usage of iron began to become prominent as the metal for tools and weapons, being that it is much stronger than copper, tin and bronze. During this time period many people migrated to the farther reaches of continents including Europe and permanent settlements were developed. In addition, during this time period several religions and philosophies were developed including Buddhism and Confuciusism. Some other technological advancements included the sundial (800 BC), glass (500 BC) and a wide range of advances in trade, ships, architecture, education, etc.

The Age of Ancient Civilizations

From around 500 BC with the start of the Roman Empire to about 500 AD when it eventually fell and Medieval Europe took hold, there was plenty of technological innovation occurring. For many scholars, this period in human history is considered to be the Golden Age as civilizations gelled and technology in all facets of human life expanded. It should be noted that civilizations all around the globe began to grow (such as in China, India, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Central & South America, etc). Some of the many innovations that occurred during this time include: city planning, sanitation, education, architecture, matches, paper, math, religion, bridges, the magnetic compass, law and government, aqueducts, road building, reservoirs, stirrups for horses, concrete, art, philosophy and more.

The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages, which took place from 500 AD to about 1500 was a period in Europe, where for the most part technology either stagnated or even went backwards. However, it should be noted with the Crusades and the development of more trade and travel to the Middle East, Europe once again began to grow and this growth in all areas of society ushered in the Renaissance period. While for the most part Europe stagnated, there were several innovations in technology including the mechanical clock, the windmill, spectacles and innovations in agriculture, architecture and the military.

Muslim Agricultural Revolution

During the 8^th century, the Islamic world located predominantly in the Middle East revolutionized and ultimately globalized a wide range of agriculture techniques and crops. In addition, during this revolution, hydropower was utilized in order to mill a variety of different crops along with a wide range of other uses was innovated. Other technological advances included coffee the fountain pen, quartz glass, innovations in math, hard soap, shampoo, nitric acid, the celestial globe and incendiary devices.

The Renaissance Period

As trade between Europe and the Middle East exploded during the crusades and as the Europeans thirst for knowledge grew, the Renaissance period began- usually marked from the period of the 14^th century to the 16^th century. During this time period, Europe flourished both artistically and scientifically. Some of the major innovations during this time period occurred in education. A major invention-the printing press helped spread books throughout Europe and the world communicating a wide range of ideas and ultimately furthering education. Many schools and universities were developed. architecture, philosophy and other disciplines expanded and grew and medicine also enjoyed a whole host of innovation.

Age of Exploration

With trade becoming a great means of wealth for countries in Europe, the Age of Exploration came to dominate the sphere of technology and innovation, mainly in shipping, navigation and cartography. During this time period which lasted from the 1400’s to 1600’s, many ships sailed across the globe and around the world. During this period, the New World was discovered and settlements and colonization occurred- along with the conquest of local, indigenous peoples.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a time of great innovation due to the harnessing of cheap energy (through coal) and the steam engine. These two innovations which occurred mostly in Britain during the late 18^th and 19^th centuries was a milestone in human technology. With the ability to no longer rely on water power, animal power or human power for farming and other uses, coal can now be burned to drive steam engines for a wide range of uses including factories, transportation (steam locomotives and steam ships) and the ability to mass produce metals such as wrought iron and other metals to build bridges and other items. With the Industrial Revolution came the transportation revolution that made it much easier to transport people, livestock and goods all around Europe and now the United States. With the Industrial Revolution came also huge innovations in the economy and society as more and more people left agricultural communities and migrated to the cities to live and work. This helped pave the way for a society based on specialization.

19^th and 20^th Centuries

During the last two centuries, enormous innovations in technology have occurred- too many innovations to list. However, it is important to note that many of these innovations have occurred due to previous discoveries and the cumulative amount of knowledge and technology that has been developed over the course of time. Just some of the huge innovations in technology that have occurred over the last 200 years include: huge changes in government, society, practically every institution, electrification, math and science, inventions such as the radio, television, telephone, computer, internet, automobile, airplane, medicine, economy, military weaponry, refrigeration, household appliances, sanitation, nuclear power, photography, spacecraft, mechanized agriculture and more.

Today, we live in a society that has vastly been changed due to innovations and enhancements from technology. This cumulative knowledge is growing at an increasing speed and level. While it took usually centuries or millennia in the past for society to be changed from technology, today, technology can have a huge impact on our society in a matter of decades or even years. While it is not known what the future holds for technical innovations, with the thirst for knowledge and discovery innate in humans, you can be sure that more technological advances will be seen on the horizon.

Related Histories:

• History of the Segway

• History of Presidential Campaigns

• History of Cell Phones

• History of Fireworks

• History of Television

History of Mars Chocolate

Mars Chocolate is one of the operating divisions of US global corporation Mars Inc, a privately owned company founded by Frank and Ethel Mars in 1920 and has grown to be one of the world’s largest confectionary brands with products such as M&Ms, Snickers, Skittles, Milky Way, Bounty, Twix, and of course the flagship chocolate candy, the Mars Bar. The company also owns several other food related brands such as Uncle Ben’s, Dolmio, Masterfoods, and Pedigree Pet Foods,

In 1911 Frank C. Mars and his second wife Ethel (nee Healy) started a confectionary factory in Tacoma, Washington known as the Mars Candy Factory, but by 1920 Frank and Ethel had relocated the factory to Minnesota under the name Mar-O-Bar but the name didn’t inspire a great deal of brand loyalty and was changed to Mars, Inc when the company incorporated a few months later.

Mars were most well known for their Milky Way chocolate bar in the 1920s a candy bar with nougat and caramel that was quite unique in those times with most other chocolate candy being simple bars of solid chocolate. The Milky Way candy sold well and allowed the company to grow to several hundred employees.

By the early 1930s Mars were able to introduce the Snickers chocolate bar with a chewy nougat and peanut interior, and coated with milk chocolate. The Snickers bar was named after a favorite horse of the Mars family but this didn’t seem to affect sales too much, quite the contrary, the simple change from snack allowed for clever puns in contemporary society helping to drive sales of the Snickers chocolate bar to levels exceeding those of the Milky Way bar.

Forrest Mars Sr, the son of Frank and Ethel Mars joined the family business a few years after it was formed, but disagreements in the family led to an estrangement and Forrest relocating to England where he formed Mars Limited at Slough. The dispute between Forrest and Frank Mars is believed to have been over Forrest’s desire to experiment with new products and promote the family’s products outside of the USA.

In 1932 things had reached an untenable situation and Forrest was given $50,000 and the recipe for the Milky Way bar and told to follow his own destiny. Arriving in England Forrest discovered the Milky Way bar wasn’t to European tastes, the malt nougat needing to be toned down and the taste of the caramel accentuated. The new product couldn’t be named Milky Way, so the name Mars was adopted and was an immediate success in England and other European nations.

The death of Frank Mars in 1934 at the age of 51 put Mars, Inc and Mars Limited into Forrest Mars Sr’s hands along with his sister Patricia, and the return of Forrest to the US as well as the merger of the two companies under the Mars, Inc name. In the US, Mars continued to sell and market the Milky Way and Snickers bars, whilst in Europe the Snickers bar was introduced under the name Marathon.

During the 1930s Forrest happened to be on a sales trip to Spain and witnessed soldiers in the Spanish civil war eating chocolate beads covered with a candy exterior that kept the beads from melting and allowed soldiers to carry them in the packs or pockets. Sensing a market for small chocolate beads Forrest set about developing his own recipe. By the time the product was ready to be introduced to the market World War 2 was underway and rations introduced in the US.

At the time the only company authorized to make chocolate for domestic and war consumption was the Hershey company, a rival to Mars, but an agreement was reached with Bruce Murrie, the son of Hershey’s president where Mars with 80% share in the new product would provide the factory and recipe, whilst Hershey with the other 20% share of the business would provide the chocolate. The two Ms on the beads were named after Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie. Production started in 1941 but 100% of the manufactured product was diverted to soldiers until after the war ended.

As the company has grown, new factories became necessary particularly in new markets outside of Mars, Incs traditional markets of the US and UK. In 1963 a chocolate factory in the Netherlands at Veghel was opened and has continued to be expanded and also produces other foods in the Mars family of products, yet is still the largest chocolate factory owned by Mars and either the largest or second largest in the world, a fact that cannot be verified due to secrecy surrounding Mars, Inc..

A criticism of Mars chocolate has come from environmentalists and fair trade activists who claimed the company hasn’t publicly endorsed and supported the fair trade movement. Mars, Inc countered that their own program of sustainable development and partnership with cacao farmers was a more progressive approach, and cited partnerships with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Rainforest Alliance, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, and the US Department of Agriculture as proof of its commitment. The private and secretive nature of Mars, Inc prevented fair trade activists from verifying Mars claims so criticism has continued.

Dove Chocolate, formerly an independent company bought by Mars, Inc in 1986, forms part of the flagship lineup of the confectionary division of Mars and allowed the company to develop non-traditional sales channels, starting with party plans and private distributors working from home. Since the 1990s Mars, Inc has successfully introduced new chocolate brands into the market such as Ethel M’s Chocolate Lounge, a gourmet product aimed at the gifts market and sold thru company owned stores in the US as well as online.

Mars, Inc also started up the American Heritage Chocolate Co with stores at major historical sites selling chocolate using authentic colonial recipes, and is active in helping to preserve chocolate history. In 2009 Mars in association with the Smithsonian Institute published a book entitled “Chocolate: The North American Experience”, a history of chocolate production and cacao processing in North America since the earliest known times.

Related Histories:

• History of Twix Candy

• History of Snickers Candy Bar

• History of Skittles Candy

• History of Chocolate

• History of Laffy Taffy

History of Volleyball

Volleyball is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of six players on a court with a net between them and a ball which is punched across the net, the objective being to score points against the opposing team by grounding the ball. Each team is allowed only three contacts with the ball before it must be returned to the other side. The center net had a height of 6 foot 6 inches, although in children’s games this is often lowered to just above their head height.

In 1895, a YMCA Physical education instructor by the name of William Morgan who created a game called Mintonette for older members of his YMCA who found other games a little to energetic and needed a game of skill rather than strength to help keep them fit. Morgan was a friend of James Naismith, who featured prominently in the history of basketball, but thought Naismith’s game would cause injuries for middle aged men whereas having a net slightly above their heads didn’t require much jumping.

Morgan’s original name for the game was Mintonette which was chosen as a nod to Badminton, a game that was influential in setting the first rules for Volleyball, although the name didn’t really catch on. A spectator at a demonstration game Alfred Halstead, another YMCA director observed that there was a lot of volleying happening on court, and shortly after the name Volley Ball was chosen, eventually being contracted to Volleyball.

The first official rules of Volleyball were published in 1897 by the Athletic League of the YMCA of North America. Volleyball caught on quickly after the rules were published and in the same year Spalding made a custom ball with a rubber bladder inside a basketball, which over the next few years was redesigned, so that its weight was settled on between 8 and 10 ounces and the circumference determined to be 26 inches. Volleyball quickly spread around other YMCAs and various colleges in the US, and by 1905 was being played in Cuba, in Japan in 1908, and in China and the Philippines by 1910.

In 1900, the rules of the game were adjusted to remove the innings that had been defined by Morgan, the number of points to win a match was increased to 21 points, and the net was raised to 7 feet 6 inches. In 1912, Volleyball’s rules were once again updated to face the realities of the game, which is that players were getting younger and faster, so the court size was increased to 60 feet by 35 feet, the ball weight standardized at 7 to 9 ounces and the number of players set at just 6 per team on court at any time.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association joined forces with the YMCA in 1916 to further refine the rules of the game, and then again in 1920, by which time Volleyball was truly established as a college game although not professional. the first national YMCA Volleyball championship were held in New York, but non-YMCA teams weren’t invited, a situation not remedied until 1928 and the creation of the United States Volleyball Association (USVBA). The USVBA was acepted by the YMCA and NCAA as their new umbrella organization and the first national men’s tournament was held in the same year.

Whilst Volleyball was a popular game it struggled to develop a league of teams that would compete in regular competitions with most games being played within very local leagues. The 1930s saw the first beach game being played, and in 1934 recognition of referees who would adjudicate championship and inter college games. The USVBA was finally recognized by all Volleyball associations as having jurisdiction over the rules of the game, a turning point that spurred more interest and better funding for the game, and quickly growing to the fifth most popular form of recreation in the US.

Internationally, the end of World War 2 resulted in Volleyball receiving recognition as a global sport and the formation of the Federation Internationale de Volley Ball (FIVB) in 1947 along with the first World Championship games in 1949 held in Prague, the capital city of Czechoslovakia, and won by the Soviet Union. The US didn’t win a World Championship game until 1986 in Paris, France. Volleyball was played at international level in the Americas for the first time in 1955 a the Pan American Games, and a the Olympics in 1964.

Beach Volleyball was formally recognized as a new medium of the game in the 1960s with the creation of the California Beach Volleyball Association (CBVA), a game that is similar to regular volleyball except that teams are reduced to just two players each. Beach versions of the regular six person team sport are also played though these tend to be of a more social nature than a competitive sport.

Despite the different rules and more professional nature of some Beach Volleyball leagues, the sport is still administered at international level by the FIVB, and in the US by a grouping of the USAV (formerly the USVBA), the Women’s Professional Volleyball Association (WPVA), and the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP). Beach Volleyball and Surf Rescue competitions in many parts of the world are often held at the same time with many competitors involved in both activities.

College Volleyball competitions held by the NCAA were given a major funding boost in the late 1960s and starting the first true mens championships in 1970 won by UCLA, whilst the NCAA women’s Volleyball championship didn’t start until 1981, won by Southern California. From their college roots many women have continued playing Volleyball resulting in a professional women’s league the WPVA being formed in 1986 to protect the women’s game from being overwhelmed by men’s professional volleyball.

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History of the Telephone

It is hard to believe the fundamental change a single invention brought to the world, yet that is precisely what the telephone did, suddenly talking to a loved one or business colleague at almost any distance with effortless ease from the comfort of their own home. In today’s world of mobile phones and Internet telephone we take for granted the fundamental shift to society that occurred with the invention of the telephone.

Children learn to tie two tin cans together using twine and hold them tightly apart from each other thus allowing sound to carry from one to the other, and if this is attached to a bell as well the entire system can become a rudimentary telephone as we might see in the Flintstones cartoons, but real telephones require electricity and components that can only be made with the right tools and materials. The sound carried by the twine is due to sound vibrations along the twine which echo in the tin can.

This is a completely different system from that used on ships where long hollow pipes in the ships bridge could be carried down to the engine room or galley simply from confining the sound vibrations into a pipe. In the early 1800s the electric telegraph had been invented and was reliably carrying messages of all sorts wherever a telegraph office could be sited. It was his desire to improve the telegraph, and knowledge of sound waves thru teaching elocution to deaf students that gave Alexander Graham Bell the idea for inventing the telephone.

History has been kind to Bell, crediting him with being a gentleman as well as the inventor of the telephone, although he very nearly lost that honor. On the same day that Bell applied for his patent for the telephone, the 14^th of February 1876, so too did Elisha Gray, another prominent inventor whose caveat to the US Patent Office described a water transmitter to be used in his own telephone. Sadly, Bell’s lawyer and the clerk of the patent office, an habitual drunk, had served together in the Civil War and conspired to have Bell’s patent registered first, initially by adding additional notes to Bell’s application, and then delaying Gray’s caveat until Bell’s application could be presented.

When the patent examiner realized that both applications were similar he called a halt to processing both until they could be demonstrated. Bell demonstrated the technique devised by Gray and was granted the patent, which was subsequently upheld in a court of law. Historians since those times now recognize that Gray would have been considered the inventor of the telephone were it not for Bell demonstrating the technology first. The very first words ever uttered thru a telephone occurred in Bell’s lab with his assistant Thomas Watson who was reported to have heard Bell saying “Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you”.

The techniques developed by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson directly led to the first commercial telephone services only a year after Bell’s patent was registered, however other worthy scientists prior to Bell, men like Antonio Meucci of Italy, of Johann Reis of Germany had also demonstrated telephone prototypes, though their techniques weren’t quite as advanced Thomas Edison adopted some of Reis’s ideas in the creation of the carbon microphone.

Boston was the first city whose citizens benefited in 1877 with the first telephones being installed. Initially subscribers were paired and could only speak to one another. Telephone switchboards were quickly invented that allowed subscribers to talk to any phone connected to the same set of telephone lines, the first entering service in 1878 in New Haven. Within the first three years of commercial telephone service being available the United Stats boasted nearly 50,000 telephones.

The invention of the telephone switchboard resulted in subscribers needing a way to effectively connect with each other without having to speak to an operator, which at the time was the only way of allowing different telephone lines to be connected and used a series of short cables that would be plugged into a board to which the subscriber’s line was attached. Each of these original telephones would also have it’s own power source, typically a battery in the case of the telephone that needed periodic replacement.

Early telephone exchanges were locally based, a subscriber could only talk to another subscriber on their own exchange by asking an operator to place the call, and if calls to other local exchanges were required the operator would liaise with the next operator in a sequence to connect the call. Long distance calls could not be placed from home, subscribers were required to make an appointment with the central telephone office to use a specially built booth that contained a shielded telephone with greater electrical capacity that could transmit over longer wire distances.

Electromechanical exchanges were invented by the major telephone companies in the early 1900s along with the rotary dial telephone that would send a series of pulses to the exchange, and then with no human intervention, allow a call to be placed. The US adopted this technology quickly, after all in 1904 over three million subscribers were connected using manual exchanges, and requiring the employment of tens of thousands of operators.

The actual telephone device used in the home underwent significant development i the 1920s when Western Electric developed a phone that incorporated a handset that included both the earpiece and microphone, and for the first time allowing subscribers to move, sit down, or stand up during a call rather than remain fixed in a single position with their ear pressed against the earpiece which itself was part of the base unit. The Bell Model 102 was the very first development of this type of telephone, a style that remains popular today with many telephone handset manufacturers constructing modern replicas of the Model 102.

After the 1930s telephones didn’t change much until the introduction of digital telephones and exchanges in the 1960s, an improvement that is still being rolled out globally, but which didn’t really impact many subscribers other than their telephone using tones instead of pulses to initiate a call. Digital telephony did however usher in the era of mobile telephones that used radio waves to transmit wirelessly, and first demonstrated by an engineer working for Motorola in 1973. Large scale consumer uptake of mobile phones didn’t start until the late 1980s and early 1990s, although by 2005 mobile phone connections in most developed nations had outstripped the number of fixed line connections.

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History of the Berlin Wall

The Cold War which lasted for more than 40 years was a struggle between two major ideologies and while there were many events and items that symbolized the struggle between the East and the West, one structure- the Berlin Wall was one of the most recognizable symbols from this time period. In fact, with the eventual tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War in effect ended. Here is the history of the Berlin Wall.

Germany After World War II

At the end of World War II, Nazi Germany was carved up into four specific occupation zones as part of the Potsdam Agreement. The four occupational zones would from this point on be controlled by the Allied powers which included the French, British, Americans and the Russians. In addition, to dividing up the remains of Nazi Germany into four occupational zone, the city of Berlin, which would be the governing seat would also be divided into 4 zones, again controlled by the 4 Allied members. However in 1949, as the Cold War began, instead of jointly governing the region as originally proposed, the Soviet Union created a new state from their occupational zone called the GDR (German Democratic Republic which included East Berlin and the Americans, British and French consolidated their regions into one state now called the Federal Republic of Germany which included West Berlin.

The Two States Begin to Diverge

The two countries set up by the Allied powers the GDR and West Germany began to diverge almost immediately as the two countries were based on different ideologies and market principles. West Germany was based upon the West’s free market system and democratic government. The GDR was based on the Soviet Style planned economy and communist ideology. Within a few short years after each country was created, there were recognizable differences in quality of life and life style. In fact, during the early 1950’s as West Germany and West Berlin became quite prosperous and as the GDR and East Berlin lagged behind many in East Germany and East Berlin began to emigrate.

Not everyone left for purely economic reasons. In fact, many of those living in the Eastern Bloc countries went through borders at East and West Berlin in order to flee the Sovietization and Joseph Stalin. It should be noted that in the early 1950’s there was no natural border between East and West Berlin and traffic moved quite freely between the city, many in the Eastern Bloc took advantage of this crossing point. In fact, many East Berliners moved back and forth between the border during this time. However, as time went by, the exodus to the West was apparent and it caused the GDR and the Soviet Union to take action.

During 1950, 51, 52 and 53 close to a million citizens left the GDR for the West. This was a huge percent of the population and to make matters worse, it was causing a huge brain drain since the most likely people to leave were those that were highly educated or skilled.

Restricting Travel Between East & West Berlin

In the very early 1950’s the East/West Berlin border could be easily crossed, however as the Soviet Union started to crack down on emigration, so too did the Eastern Bloc countries including the GDR. On April 1, 1952 a meeting took place between leaders of East Germany and Stalin. Stalin’s foreign minister introduced a system of passes for visits to West Berlin, in addition, Stalin told the East Germans to quickly build up the border and to create a demarcation line between East & West Germany. However, Stalin went one step further, he communicated to the East Germans that he wanted a very dangerous border, one where the East Germans will guard the border with their lives.

With this meeting, the border between East & West Germany was closed and even a barbed wire fence was erected. However, while the inner border of East & West Germany was constructed, the border in Berlin remained opened. With the rise of restrictions, many East Germans and Eastern Bloc citizens started to fear further tightening and started to emigrate en masse.

In 1956, as emigration continued on a large scale- usually under the disguise of family visits, the East German in effect eliminated all travel to the West. Even with all travel for East Germans effectively eliminated, since the border at Berlin was administered by the four occupying powers, it was still possible for many East Germans and Eastern Bloc citizens to find ways through Berlin to the West. In fact, by the end of the 1950’s almost 90% of all emigrants came through the border at Berlin. It should be noted that there were penalties for getting caught for crossing the border illegally- usually heavy fines, but since there was no natural border and there were even subway train access to East Berlin, many found Berlin to be the most practical way to cross into West Germany.

The Berlin Wall is Constructed

For more than a decade, the emigration problem was doing plenty of damage to not only East Germany, but the Eastern Bloc countries due to the brain drain of highly educated and skilled people leaving for the West. However, in 1961 the border issue came to a head and on August 12, 1961, Walter Ulbricht which was the First Secretary of the Socialist Part and the GDR State Council Chairman signed the order to close the border and build a wall to separate East & West Berlin.

The wall began construction at midnight on Sunday August 13, 1961 as the police and the East German Army closed the border. They then went ahead and started to tear up streets that were along side the border to ensure that vehicle traffic could not pass. The first actions of constructing a wall was the installation of barbed wire and fences which bordered the entire length of the three western sections (97 miles) and separated the city of Berlin into two (27 miles). The Berlin Wall was built on the inside of East Berlin and East Germany to ensure that none of the Allied borders were infringed on.

On August 15, concrete slabs of the Berlin Wall started to be laid. It should be noted that besides concrete, chain fences, minefields and other obstacles were also installed along the inner border to stop defectors.

Response from the West

The Western countries including the Allied forces of the US, UK and France were obviously enraged, however, the reality of the situation left little recourse. A war with the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries was out of the question as it was believed it would include nuclear weapons and while diplomatic channels were being used, it was realized early on that the removal of the Berlin Wall would not happen in the short term.

It should be noted that while the Berlin Wall was constructed there were still border crossings due to the fact that the Potsdam agreement created an Allied zone. In total, there were 8 border crossings between East and West Berlin. While GDR citizens were not allowed to leave their country, as well as other socialist countries (unless they had the proper permits), West Germans and Allied personnel could cross into East Germany. One of the most well known border crossings was called Checkpoint Charlie. It was mainly used by Allied personnel and foreigners. In the early years of the Berlin Wall being constructed, generally speaking West Germans and foreigners could not enter into East Berlin, however as the years progressed, Western citizens could apply for a visa to visit East Germany, but the government could still refuse entry.

Escape Attempts at the Berlin Wall

With the construction of the Berlin Wall, many citizens of East Germany tried to defect by climbing over the wall. In fact, about 5,000 people successfully escaped to West Berlin during the time the wall was erected, however many people also died trying to cross the wall. It is estimated that over 200 people were killed trying to escape over the wall. While official orders form the GDR did not necessarily state to kill a person trying to defect, it did authorize force including being shot at. It fact, the strip around the wall was named the death strip, because if an escapee was wounded, the West could not save the defector, no matter how close they were to the wall (as the West did not want to provoke an international incident). Many times, defectors shot or injured near the wall would simply bleed to death. The last person to be shot trying to defect was in February 1989, less than a year prior to the dismantling of the wall.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

Being one of the many symbols of communism, it is no surprise that with the decline and eventual end of the Soviet Union and communism also came the destruction of the Berlin Wall. The beginning of the end of the Berlin Wall came in late August of 1989 when Hungary, a country part of the Eastern Bloc removed defenses to its border with Austria. This helped thousands of Hungarians, as well as other Eastern Bloc countries to defect through Hungary into Austria. As many East Germans started to travel to Hungary in order to defect, the East German government halted travel for East Germans to Hungary. Shortly after Hungary removed its defenses with Austria’s borders, Czechoslovakia did the same. This time the GDR allowed East Germans to defect through Czechoslovakia. In addition to the removal of defenses, in 1989 with the Soviet Union releasing its grip on the Eastern Bloc, many mass demonstrations took place including within East Germany. On October 18, 1989 the leader of East Germany, Enrich Honecker resigned. Egon Krenz took his place.

As the demonstrations grew and grew- approaching over a million people in Alexanderplatz in November and as defectors continued to leave in droves through Czechoslovakia, the government was under pressure to allow emigration through its own borders. In order to ease this pressure, on November 9, 1989 Krenz decided to allow emigration directly through crossing the East German border into the West.

While the decision was made on November 9, the new border crossing regulations were to be implemented on November 10 in order to give the border guards enough time to prepare. However, Gunter Schabowski, the Party Secretary for Propaganda was to give the announcement. And while Schabowski was on vacation at the time, he was giving a press conference and was handed the new orders. Since the new order did not have the date of November 10, Schabowski thought the new orders were to be implemented immediately. At the press conference he announced the implementation of the new orders and with further questioning from reporters he made the statement that the new regulations would be implemented immediately and that the border crossings would include those of Berlin.

As thousands had either watched or heard the news conference, immediately afterwards, tens of thousands of East Berliners rushed to the checkpoints at the Berlin Wall and demanded to leave. As the border guards were overwhelmed and no government authorities would issued commands to use force, there was effect no way to hold back the thousands of citizens seeking entry to West Berlin. The border guards finally gave way and allowed East Berliners to leave. East Berliners were met on the other side by ecstatic West Germans and huge celebrations were underway.

From November 9 on, the Berlin Wall was quickly chipped away, using sledge hammers, construction tools, etc. Many people kept pieces or sold these pieces as souvenirs. The official dismantling of the Berlin Wall began on June 13, 1990 and as of July 1, 1990 the GDR instituted the West German currency and all border controls officially ceased. The last of the Berlin Wall was removed in November of 1991- however several pieces of the wall still stand as a memorial.

With the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, so to did the government of the GDR dismantle. Both the GDR and West Germany agreed to reunify. Reunification officially took place on October 3, 1990.

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History of Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character of a talking mouse owned by The Walt Disney Company, and a very strong franchise for the company as well as its main character for promoting the company’s television channel, the various Disney theme parks, and merchandising opportunities. Mickey Mouse is distinctive and quite unique amongst cartoon characters with large black ears and a pointy nose, red shorts with white buttons, and large yellow construction boots. The silhouette of Mickey’s ears and nose are the logo of The Walt Disney Company.

The origins of the Mickey Mouse character are clouded in history, with different stories appearing to suit the whims of publishers, copyright holders, and those looking for a mystery, and with all of the original parties to his creation having passed away we may never know the real truth. The Walt Disney Company claims that the characters was of course created by Walt Disney (1901-1966) himself, the founder of the company, and that Walt based his original drawings on the humanized antics of a mouse Walt adopted while living in Kansas City and working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company in the early 1920s.

Disney recollected in later interviews that he drew a series of sketches of a cartoon mouse, and that long time friend and colleague Ub Iwerks reworked the sketches into a form that would make the characters easier and faster to draw, by all accounts simplifying the character into a series of straight lines and curves. Walt provided the voice, and the attitude and personality of Mickey Mouse, leading many of Disney’s animation colleagues of the time to describe Walt as the real life father of Mickey Mouse, as well as the rightful designer of the character.

An opposing story tells that a mouse character had originally been drawn by Hugh Harman around a photograph of Walt Disney in 1925, and that these were subsequently used as the idea for a new character when Disney went his separate ways from Universal Studios where he was contracted to provide shorts based on a character named “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit”. Disney needed to create a new character since he had signed over the rights for Oswald to Universal, so asked Ub Iwerks to come up with some ideas, some of which included cats, dogs, frogs, horses, and cows.

It wasn’t until after Iwerks was nearly at his wits end that he remembered seeing Harman’s mouse sketches around the photo of Walt that both he and Walt Disney finally agreed they were on to a winner with a mouse character with big ears and wearing a pair of shorts. They envisaged the mouse being human like, a bit of a struggler against whom fate always set an obstacle or challenge and which he would overcome through effort a good nature, and patience. They named their character Mortimer Mouse.

Mortimer struggled to find an identity, with Walt’s wife Lillian convinced the name was a bit to snobbish and would detract from the character’s audience appeal. Disney wanted his new studio’s primary character to be lovable, cute and little, traits he believed made it easy for children to fall in love with. In a later interview, Walt credited part of the personality of Mickey Mouse to Charlie Chaplin, a cute lovable character who thru no fault of his own always seemed to be getting into trouble. Mickey Rooney is on record as saying that Walt confided he chose the name Mickey after seeing Mickey McGuire, a character played by the young Mickey Rooney in the early 1920s.

By May 1928 the first Mickey Mouse short was ready for distribution, entitled Plane Crazy it featured Mickey and Minnie Mouse and a plane that Mickey had built. Mickey invites Minnie for the first flight and after take off attempts to kiss Minnie who jumps out of the plane with a parachute leaving Mickey to his adventure, which is of course filled with mishaps. The short failed to find a distributor so a second short, The Gallopin’ Gaucho was filmed and introduced Pegleg Pete, who had previously been seen in other Disney animations, as Mickey’s rival for Minnies affections. This too failed to find a distributor.

The Gallopin’ Gaucho was an unusual production in the Mickey was seen in two different designs, beginning the short looking like he did in Plane Crazy, notably with a black face and white eyes with black pupile, and in one of the cantina scenes Mickey is showing his teeth whilst smoking a cigarette or drinking a beer. Coincidentally at the time Mickey rescues Minnie from Pete and becomes her hero, his appearance changes to a white face with solid black eyes. Charges of racism have been leveled against this animation, but never sustained in a court of law.

The first Mickey Mouse animated short to find a distributor was Steamboat Willie, released November 1928, and again featuring Mickey, Minnie, and Pete who appears as the captain of the boat. Mickey himself appeared closely resembling the Mickey who became the hero in Gallopin’ Gaucho. Steamboat Willie proved an immediate hit with audiences loving the use of music and sound effects to add humor to the production, and encouraging Disney to fully adopt sound in all animations, including Mickey’s first spoken words in the 1929 production of The Karnival Kid.

A minor change to Mickey and Minnie’s appearance occurred in late 1929, they characters sported a smart pair of white gloves, which were added after complaints that viewers couldn’t see what they were doing with their hands when facing the camera. All Disney animation were still being filmed in black and white, so white gloves allowed the hands to contrast with other black parts of their bodies. By the early 1930s Mickey Mouse had overtaken Felix the Cat as Americas favorite cartoon animation, and Mortimer Mouse had been introduced as Minnie Mouse’s rancher uncle.

In 1935, a new animator at the Disney Company redesigned Mickey Mouse, returning the white eyes and black pupils, but also shortening Mickey’s nose, and giving his body a makeover, converting the round torso to an ellipse, as well as making Mickey’s face wider. In 1978, the 50^th anniversary of Mickey Mouse’s first short film being produced and distributed, The Disney Company organized a huge extravaganza at Disneyland in California, with shows and some of the largest fireworks displays ever seen at the time. Mickey was also awarded a star on Hollywood Boulevard, the first cartoon character to ever receive a star.

As well, the Disney Company was operating Mickey Mouse Clubs in cinemas throughout the US and claiming over a million members, for whom specially discounted prices of Mickey Mouse merchandise were available, as well,the members would receive coloring books and badges. By the mid 1930s the administrative costs of managing these proved uneconomic, and they were closed down, but again in 1955 thru 1959 the Mickey Mouse Club was revived as a television series broadcast Monday to Friday.

The Mickey Mouse Club also aired in the 1970s, and then again in the 1990s, with many famous pop celebrities getting their first broadcasting role as cast members of the revived show, amngst them Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake. In 2006, a new format show named the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse began airing, however the show was aimed at preschoolers and isn’t a successor to the Mickey Mouse Club which The Disney Company reserve the right to revive.

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History of Snickers Candy Bar

The Snickers Candy Bar is a chewy peanut butter nougat and caramel and roasted peanut topping candy bar covered in dairy milk chocolate made and marketed by Mars, Inc, a US based private corporation that is one of the world’s largest food and confectionary suppliers. The Snickers candy bar is sold throughout the world and over 15 million bars are made daily with annual sales of over $2 billion making it one of the most popular candy bars ever produced.

Frank and Ethel Mars, the founders of Mars, Inc created the very successful Milky Way chocolae bar in the early 1920s, which was America’s most popular candy bar between 1927 and 1929 allowing the company to expand and develop new recipes for chocolate candy. The Snickers bar took over three years to develop and wasn’t released to the market until 1930. Frank and Ethel also owned a farm that bred race horses in Tennessee, some of which were regular sweepstake winners, including Ethel’s favorite, a horse named Snickers.

Sadly the horse died a month or two before the new product was to be released, an since a new name hadn’t been settled on, and the farm in any event had been named after the first chocolate bar, the Milky Way Farm, it seemed fitting that the next chocolate bar should take its name from the farm. By all accounts Ethel was delighted that the name of her favorite horse would be chosen.

Snickers bars were originally made by pouring the peanut butter nougat onto a large tray, then adding the caramel and peanut topping, and slicing by hand before dipping each piece into melted chocolate. Of course the increasing use of machines to increase volumes made means that old hand made way is no longer practiced. It is a sign of the times that the first Milky Way bar sold for just 5 cents in 1920, yet the Snickers candy bar sold for 20 cents when it was first released in 1930.

The association with a prize winning race horse inspired the Mars company to identify the Snickers candy bar with athletes, rumor has it that Forrest Mars Sr, while in Europe and estranged from his father back in the US, decided to brand the Snickers bar as the Marathon bar because of the high calorie count. After his father’s death Mars in the US came under his control and whilst the same candy bar continued to be known by the different names, they both became synonymous with performance sport.

The end of World War 2 ushered in a golden age of radio and television advertising, the future was considered bright; democracy, capitalism and the American way of life were believed to be the pinnacle of human accomplishment, leading to major brands such as Snickers being associated with clean wholesome entertainment, and leading directly to Snickers becoming the main sponsor of The Howdy Doody Show from 1949 till 1952.

Very little changed with the Snickers brand during its first forty years of production, except in 1968 when Mars were inspired to produce the Snickers mini candy bar which sold in bags of a dozen or more and were labeled ‘fun size’. Fun size candy bars were heavily marketed at parents concerned about the sugar and fat content of regular size chocolate bars as the ideal accompaniment to school lunch boxes and family snacks for the kitchen pantry.

Snickers candy bars in the UK and Ireland had been known as Marathon chocolate bars since they were first introduced to the market in the 1930s, but by the 1990s Mars, Inc undertook a consolidated branding exercise aimed at bringing all of the corporations products under unified Mars branding that would be recognized globally instead of locally. Several company divisions were renamed using Mars as the division prefix, whilst many products including Snickers and Twix adopted the more globally known name.

The Marathon bar was to become Snickers in line with global naming, and for a period of 18 months featured the catchphrase “Internationally known as Snickers”. After this time all Marathon candy in the British Isles were branded Snickers, although Mars Limited in England has renewed their trademark to the name Marathon provoking rumors they may re-use the name.

Mars, Inc. and especially the Snickers brand has courted controversy in recent years with advertisements perceived to be homophobic, notably during Super Bowl XLI when two mechanics are seen sharing a Snickers and accidentally kiss when reaching the middle. The two actors immediately feel the need to do something manly such as drinking motor oil or hitting each other with a wrench. Controversially, the Snickers website showed a group of Super Bowl players reacting with disgust to the kiss, fueling protests that Mars, Inc. was promoting discrimination against gay and lesbian people.

A similar controversy in England was the result of an advertisement featuring the actor Mr T who is seen ridiculing a power walker and firing a semi-automatic rifle in his direction whilst telling the walker to do something more manly. At the same time Mr T is seen eating a Snickers candy bar. Interestingly, protesters weren’t annoyed with the firing of a weapon, or of the ad ridiculing power walking, instead most commentators accused Mars Limited of homophobia since the power walker is portrayed in an effeminate manner.

Significantly, neither controversial ad seemed to have damaged sales or caused any embarrassment to the Mars family although Mr T was forced to defend his role in the UK ad and lost work as sponsors recoiled from being associated with the perception of homophobia. In other parts of the world the Snickers brand has been more positively received with Snickers in Australia being a major sponsor of surfing, whilst in Latin America Snickers is known for supporting youth activities such as music and skateboarding.

Sales of Snickers candy bars have continued to increase, and have become a major brand within the Mars, Inc. portfolio of products that has also experienced many varieties over the years beginning in the late 1980s thru to the present. Examples of Snickers branded products include the Snickers Ice Cream Bar, Snickers Cruncher, Snickers Almond Bar, Snickers Xtreme, Snickers Charged, Snickers Hazelnut, Snickers Flapjack and many more, all of which have been well received at the time and either continued in production or withdrawn after the promo ended.

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