By Rob Harris
London: A man who was shocked when he found a Mars bar without its signature ripple – causing an online storm – has received £2 ($3.91) in compensation and an apology from the global food giant.
Harry Seager, 34, bought the chocolate bar from a service station in Thame, a market town near Oxford, while on his way to a classic car show in Birmingham this month.
A man who bought a Mars bar without its signature ripple has been given a voucher for his hassle.Credit: Harry Seager
When he opened the packet, he thought the lack of ripple was a new cost-cutting measure. He posted it to the Dull Men’s Club page on Facebook. More than 16,000 comments from the group’s thousands of members ensured Seager’s find gained widespread media attention throughout Britain.
Mars Wrigley UK, the famous bar’s maker, said this one had “slipped” through its production line and confirmed the swirl was being kept.
Seager told the BBC that while Mars Wrigley UK would not give him a reason for the imperfection, the Facebook group’s members said the bar had “escaped being blown by air”.
Seager said he planned to buy more Mars bars with the £2 voucher sent to him in the mail.
“The only reason I emailed [Mars] was because I was interested in what might have caused it to happen. That is all I wanted to know and they kept sidelining that question,” he said.
“I think £2 is great – it will be two free Mars bars. Maybe they could have sent me more, but I’m not being ungrateful. I think it’s amazing – after everything that’s happened – that I got the £2 voucher.”
Mars bars were first made in Britain by hand in Slough, a town made famous through Ricky Gervais’ The Office, in 1932. They are still made there.
Seager said a few people who used to work at Mars’ factories had commented on the Facebook page that all bars are meant to go through a machine called an enrober, which is like a “[chocolate] waterfall”.
“They get blown with air along the top as it comes out of that waterfall. Apparently there’s meant to be somebody at the end who removes the ones which haven’t been hit by the air,” he said.
“I don’t know what happens to them then. I suppose they got put into products that have Mars bars in, like cakes and things.”
Mars Wrigley UK said in a statement that with more 2.5 million Mars bars produced daily in its factory, it seems Seager’s bar had “slipped through without its signature flourish”.
“While we can’t reveal all the secrets behind our product line, we can promise fans that these ‘smooth’ Mars bars are a rare find and the classic swirl isn’t going away,” the company said.
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