Christmas chocolate favourites Celebrations almost had different name

One of our most iconic Christmas chocolates almost had a completely different name, a new documentary has revealed.

A new documentary has revealed that one of our most iconic Christmas variety boxes nearly had a completely different name.

Mars Wrigley’s iconic Celebrations chocolates are a festive mainstay – the ideal Secret Santa gift, stocking filler, or post-lunch treat – with their popularity explored in documentary, The Secret World of … Christmas Chocolate.

One of the people behind the famous red tub of chocolates, general manager of Mars Michelle Frost, delved into where the idea for them came from – and what they almost could’ve been.

“I usually get my best ideas in the bath. And there’s always a joke at work: ‘Oh God, Michelle’s been in the bath again. Watch out, everybody,” Ms Frost said, adding the confectionary market in the 90s was “boring” and “traditional”.

“Anyway, I was having this bath, mulling this conundrum: ‘What can I do that’s different?’

“And then it dawned one me. ‘I know what we need to do. We need to use the chocolates that everybody loves.’”

Celebrations chocolates almost had a different name. Picture: Supplied

Once the call to make miniature versions of Maltesers, Twix and Snickers (and Bounty, rip), they had to come up with a name.

“Then I had to think about, ‘What are we going to call this thing?’” Frost recalled.

“There were two names that stuck out to me – one was Celebrations and one was Jamboree.

“But Celebrations just summed up the occasion that we wanted people to use this product for.”

They then “came up with this idea of using the logos from the brand, as part of [the word] Celebrations”.

“So the ‘b’ is the b that you see on Bounty, and the ‘s’ is the s from the Mars bar,” she explained.

“Not many people realise that as they’ve got so used to seeing that as the Celebrations logo that they don’t really know how it started.”

Aspects of each chocolate’s branding is incorporated into the logo. Picture: YouTube

Mars general manager Michelle Frost. Picture: YouTube

The revelation comes after the humble Bounty Bar found itself under threat in the UK, with Mars launching a trial in the lead-up to Christmas to see if chocolate lovers would miss the coconut delight.

Extra Mars, Snickers, Milky Way, Teasers and Galaxy bars were added to make up for the Bounty’s absence.

“Christmas is the time for giving – but it seems this year, the British public are keen for us to take away … the Bounty,” Celebrations spokeswoman, Emily Owen, said early last month.

“Off the back of public demand, we’re trialling taking them out of tubs altogether.”

But she warned: “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

Piers Morgan labelled it a “diabolic decision”.

UK customers deemed the decision to axe Bountys from the box ‘diabolic’.

“Bounty Bars are the best chocolate in the world. Shame on you @MarsUK — you just killed Christmas,” he tweeted.

But former Premier League ace Darren Bent declared: “It’s the worst flavour in the box.”

Many chocolate lovers took to social media to express their anger at the decision, while others happily wished the coconut-flavoured chocolate adieu.

One person tweeted: “Whoever decided to take Bounty’s out of Celebrations boxes is a genius, what a game changer.”

Another pleased shopper said: “A tub of Celebrations with no Bounty? Best news I’ve heard in a while.”

“You must be a very sick person if you still want Bounty in the Celebrations box, good riddance,” one said.

There are no plans to remove Bountys from Celebrations boxes in Australia.