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History

Orbit gum is among the most popular brands, managed by the Mars subsidiary brand Wrigley. During World War II, Wrigley was selling their eponymous gum only to soldiers, while Orbit was sold to the public. Though abandoned shortly after the war, about 30 years later, Orbit came back to America.

Franklin Clarence Mars, whose mother taught him to hand dip candy, sold candy by age 19. He started the Mars Candy Factory on June 23, 1911, with Ethel V. Mars, his second wife, in Tacoma, Washington. This factory produced and sold fresh candy wholesale, but ultimately the venture failed because there was a better established business, Brown & Haley, also operating in Tacoma. By 1920, Mars had returned to his home state, Minnesota, where the earliest incarnation of the present day Mars company was founded that year as Mar-O-Bar Co., in Minneapolis and later incorporated there as Mars, Incorporated.

In 1923, Forrest Mars Sr., son of Frank and his first wife, Ethel G. Mars, was discussing his father's business struggles with him at a soda fountain. Inspired by his beverage, Forrest suggested that his father base a candy bar on a chocolate malted milk milkshake. Frank took the suggestion and, making use of the neglected ingredient Minneapolis nougat, introduced the Milky Way bar, advertised as a "chocolate malted milk in a candy bar", which became the best-selling candy bar. In 1929, Frank moved the company to Chicago and started full production in a plant which still exists today. In 1930, Frank Mars created the Snickers bar and first sold it in US markets. In 1932, Mars introduced the 3 Musketeers bar.

In 1932, Forrest Mars was given a check by his father as well as the foreign rights to market the Milky Way. The younger Mars moved over to Great Britain and started his own company, Mars Limited, in the town of Slough. The Mars bar was launched there to great success. He continued to expand his company over the next decades.

Following the death of Frank Mars in 1934, the Mars company ownership was placed into the hands of his widow's family. Ethel V. Mars served as president, but company activities were otherwise run by her half-brother, William Kruppenbacher. In gradual phases, Forrest Mars, who ran his own Mars company in Britain, finally took control of his father's company in Chicago by 1964 and merged the two entities together into one Mars.

Subsidiaries

Mars Snacking

Mars Snacking (formerly known as Mars Wrigley Confectionery) is an American confectionery and snacking division of Mars Inc.. In 2016, Mars announced that the Wrigley Company would be merged with its chocolate segment, Mars Chocolate North America, LLC, to form a new subsidiary, Mars Wrigley Confectionery. The new company would maintain global offices in Chicago, while moving its U.S. offices to Hackettstown and Newark, New Jersey, Wrigley CEO Martin Ravdan would lead the combined business. In 2018, the company appointed Andrew Clarke as its CEO, replacing Martin Ravdan, he started his tenure as CEO in September of the same year.

Following the acquisition of Kellanova, it was integrated into a rebranded Mars Snacking (which now uses the Kellogg K and the Wrigley G as part of the logo). Kellanova was also delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and its CEO Steve Cahillane stepped down from the company. The acquisition expanded the division's reach, with more than 50,000 associates and it operating across more than 145 markets with a workforce of around 50,000 employees, the division was valued at more than $30 billion.

Mars Food UK Limited

In 1932, Forrest Mars Sr. opened what was then Mars (Europe) headquarters, and remains Mars (UK) headquarters in Slough, Berkshire on the then-new Slough Trading Estate, after a disagreement with his father, Franklin Clarence Mars. In this factory, he produced the first Mars bar, based on the American Milky Way. The company branch is currently known as Mars Food UK Limited in the United Kingdom. Mars brands manufactured for the United Kingdom market but not for the United States include Tunes.

Many brands first created and sold in the United Kingdom were later introduced in the United States, including Starburst (original UK brand name Opal Fruits) and Skittles. The brands Twix and Topic were UK based.

Milky Way in Europe and worldwide is known as the 3 Musketeers in America. Similarly, the Snickers bar was previously marketed in Ireland and the United Kingdom as Marathon until 1990; in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, also until 1990; Galaxy in the Middle East is known as Dove in America and worldwide. Chocolate and peanut M&M's were introduced in 1980s.

Mars Drinks UK, the beverages division of Mars Limited, operates from Slough in Berkshire and specializes in office vending machines. Mars Drinks UK comprises the FLAVIA and KLIX brands which offer branded drinks such as the Starburst Orange Drink, the Maltesers Hot Chocolate and the Galaxy drinks.

Mars Drinks also produces coffee and the equipment used to make it. In 1982 FLAVIA was created out of the high demand for coffee in the United Kingdom. Initially marketed as Dimension 3 until 1989, FLAVIA was introduced in France and Germany in 1986 and Japan in 1992 then brought to the United States in 1996 and to Canada in 1997. Other products such as cappuccino were introduced in 2002 and tea in 2004.

In 2018, the Drinks division was sold to Lavazza.

Mars Petcare

Forrest Mars started the pet food industry in Europe, and his Mars Candy Company bought Kal Kan. Forrest Mars changed the name of Kal Kan dog food to Pedigree, and Kal Kan cat food to Whiskas. As of 1991, Mars controlled 60 percent of the pet food market, both in volume and value. Whiskas was the number one brand. As of 1994, Mars was the leading pet food company worldwide with $4 billion in sales.

In February 2003, Mars acquired Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (API, incorporated in 1964) and in 2007 it was renamed Mars Fishcare, Inc. The company manufactures and supplies home aquarium and pond products. Mars Fishcare brands include: Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (API), RENA, AQUARIAN, and PondCare.

The company introduced a genetic test for dogs using cheek swabs to identify breed breakdown, trait tests and health risks in 2007 known as Wisdom Panel. In 2018, Mars Petcare acquired Genoscoper Laboratories, a Finnish animal molecular diagnostics company, "to form the basis for future practical applications in enabling precision healthcare for pets" under its genetic testing unit, Wisdom Health. Wisdom Panel DNA testing expanded to include cats in mid 2021.

In Australia, the division operates three sites that are located in Wodonga, Victoria (established in 1967 for manufacture of wet pet food); Bathurst, New South Wales (established in the 1980s for manufacture of dry pet food); and Brisbane, Queensland (for manufacture of birdcare products).

Mars Petcare manufactures the 'Trill' birdseed range.

In 2007, Mars, Incorporated purchased a significant stake in the Banfield Pet Hospital chain. In October 2015, BluePearl Veterinary Partners was acquired by Mars Petcare division. This acquisition resulted in Mars Petcare becoming the largest pet nutrition and veterinary care provider in the world. In January 2017, Mars Veterinary Health North America announced the US$7.7 billion acquisition of Los Angeles-based animal hospital chain VCA Inc. In June 2018, Mars Veterinary Health International and Diagnostics acquired the Linnaeus Group consolidating its position as a leading veterinary provider in the United Kingdom.

Veterinary services are as follows:

Factories

In 1963, a large factory was opened in Veghel in the Netherlands. This factory has currently the biggest production volume of Mars factories and is one of the biggest chocolate factories in the world. Most confectionery products for Europe were produced in Slough and Veghel. The two factories in Slough were located on Liverpool Road and Dundee Road; the one on Liverpool Road closed in 2007, with Twix production moving to the Netherlands and Starburst production moving to the Czech Republic.

The major production plant for Mars confectionery products in Australia is in Ballarat, Victoria.

There is one factory outside of Hershey, Pennsylvania, located in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. The factory in Chicago, Illinois, has its own commuter rail station, simply named Mars. The company announced in early 2022 that it intends to close the Chicago factory in 2024. The building will remain in the hands of Chicago's Galewood neighborhood residents.

Brands

Many Mars products are household, famous-name brands. Some of these product lines are manufactured by Mars; others are manufactured by The Wrigley Company.

Original food products

Note: manufactured by Wrigley Company

Awards and honors

The company was named by Fortune magazine as one of the top 100 companies to work for in 2013, citing the example that employees of the pet food division can take their dogs to work.

The company has made donations to Elizabethtown College, which includes a room sponsored by them and a weekly executive lecture series.

Consumer relations

Mars remains a family business owned by the Mars family. The company is famous for its secrecy. A 1993 Washington Post Magazine article was a rare raising of the veil, as the reporter was able to see the "M"s being applied to the M&M's, something that "no outsider had ever before been invited to observe". In 1999, for example, the company did not acknowledge that Forrest Mars Sr. had died or that he had worked for the company. As of 2019, the company had "aggressively" moved away from its model of secrecy through the media and sponsorships.

Controversies

Climate change

In 2025, Mars and other major food manufacturers were named in a report by the NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch for failing to set a methane emissions reduction target or shift away from animal-based protein, and overstating progress by relying on greenhouse gas removal rather than source reduction. The report also noted that Mars had failed to establish a timeline to source only deforestation-free cocoa.

Unethical treatment of animals

In 2007, Mars came under criticism from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for funding laboratory experiments on mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits, which the group alleges are inhumane and in violation of the company's own policies prohibiting experiments on animals.

One study was conducted in collaboration with the Salk Institute regarding angiogenesis and spatial memory, in which mice were given an ad-lib diet that included epicatechin, plant-derived flavonoid. One of the experiments involved groups of control and experimental animals, the latter of which were housed individually in cages that included a running wheel for optional exercise for two hours a day. The former, also housed individually, did not have access to a running wheel. Another experiment was the classical spatial memory assay, the Morris water maze, in which experimenters had mice swim in water mixed with white paint that concealed the water depth. The study, which Mars contends was legally required in order for the company to make flavonoid-related health claims, showed that the inclusion of epicatechin in the diet improved memory and angiogenesis, more so if coupled with exercise.

Child labor and slave labor

Mars has been criticized for buying cocoa beans from West African farmers who reportedly use unpaid or poorly paid child laborers. In 2009, Mars announced that the company would work towards only purchasing cocoa from suppliers who meet environmental, labor, and production standards. TransFair USA, an organization which certifies products as Fair Trade, applauded the move and expressed hope that it would include a provision for fair wages for laborers and farmers. In 2010, Mars Inc. received the U.S. Secretary of State's Award for Corporate Excellence. In April 2010, Mars launched the MyCocoaPaper initiative, which claims to provide economic opportunities to women and families in Indonesia by making paper products out of cocoa bark and recycled office paper.

In 2011, Mars and Fairtrade International announced an agreement to introduce the first Fairtrade labeled Mars product and to work together to enable farmers to have sustainable livelihoods and substantially increased productivity. The first Mars product to carry the Fairtrade mark was Maltesers, which appeared in stores in 2012 in the UK and Ireland.

In 2019, Mars announced that they could not guarantee that their chocolate products were free from child slave labor, as they could trace only 24% of their purchasing back to the farm level (see below). The Washington Post noted that the commitment taken in 2001 to eradicate such practices within 4 years had not been kept, neither at the due deadline of 2005, nor within the revised deadlines of 2008 and 2010, and that the result was not likely to be achieved for 2020 either.

In 2021, Mars was named in a class action lawsuit filed by eight former child slaves from Mali who alleged that the company aided and abetted their enslavement on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast. The suit accused Mars (along with Nestlé, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Olam International, the Hershey Company, and Mondelez International) of knowingly engaging in forced labor, and the plaintiffs sought damages for unjust enrichment, negligent supervision, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In June 2021, the United States Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that as the abuse had happened outside the United States, the group did not have standing to file such a lawsuit.

Mars scored a yellow rating, the second highest of four possible scores, "Starting to implement good policies", on the 2022 Chocolate Scorecard, which rates all the large chocolate companies on their record in eliminating child labour, providing a living income to cocoa farmers and traceability/transparency. In its own scorecard on human rights and environmental credentials, Mars states that it has traced the source of their cocoa to 132,000 of the farms that supply their cocoa.

Deforestation in African national parks

In September 2017, an investigation conducted by NGO Mighty Earth found that a large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Mars and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally in national parks and other protected areas in Ivory Coast and Ghana. The countries are the world's two largest cocoa producers.

The report documents show, in several national parks and other protected areas, 90% or more of the land mass has been converted to cocoa. Less than four percent of Ivory Coast remains densely forested, and the chocolate companies' laissez-faire approach to sourcing has driven extensive deforestation in Ghana as well. In Ivory Coast, deforestation has pushed chimpanzees into just a few small pockets, and reduced the country's elephant population from several hundred thousand to about 200–400.

On the 2022 Chocolate Scorecard, Mars scored the second highest of four possible scores for "Deforestation and Climate" and "Agroforestry", "starting to implement good policies". Mars scored a lower rating (third of the four) for "Agrochemical Management", "needs more work on policy and implementation".