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The summer of ’32 hung heavy over the Mars family’s kitchen in Newark, where Frank C. Mars and his boy Forrest would spend endless evenings hunched over the worn wooden table, testing batch after batch of nougat while the radio crackled with news of the Lindbergh baby and Hoover’s last gasps as president.
As breadlines stretched around city blocks and nickels became precious as diamonds, Frank had this wild notion that folks needed something sweet to share—not just any candy bar, mind you, but something special: three pieces in one package, each one a different flavor, like those fancy European chocolates the society ladies bought uptown, only this would be for regular folks who needed a reason to believe in abundance again.
And why not name it after that famous Dumas novel and call it the 3 Musketeers candy bar?
Mars Inc. created and launched the 3 Musketeers bar in 1932, its 3rd candy bar released after their successful Milky Way and Snickers bars.
The original bar was quite unique for the time, with nothing like it on the market.
Instead of a single flavor, it contained three separate nougat sections:
The three flavors were rolled up into one wrapper.
Being in the depths of the Great Depression, Mars needed a pricing strategy that would work for its 3 Musketeers candy bar.
So they priced it at five cents so even the poorest sap could afford to enjoy it.
The five cent strategy also worked well as they could market it as three candy bars in one, as it contained three flavors that could be shared!
A nice poor family of three could enjoy a little sugary treat after their tiny supper to take their minds off their economic reality.
Frank C. Mars named his newest candy bar after Alexandre Dumas’s beloved literary characters in his novel The Three Musketeers.
As mentioned before, the original 3 Musketeers bar contained three unique flavors—each representing one of the story’s heroic characters:
It was a playful branding strategy that Mars was known for in his naming schemes.
Mars first introduced the 3 Musketeers bar with a limited budget due to the harsh economic situation that almost every company found themselves in at the time.
They decided not to put any ad spend into traditional advertising channels and instead relied on word of mouth advertising to spread the word.
The company marketed the candy bar with two clever slogans on the wrapper:
And they made sure to add a large font at the bottom of each package: BY THE MAKERS OF MILKY WAY.
In 1942, America was deeply involved in World War II.
The government put sugar rationing into place, forcing Mars to simplify the production of all of its candy products.
To save the candy bar, Mars was forced to take out the strawberry and vanilla sections and keep only the chocolate filling.
However, they retained the “3 Musketeers” name, which remains unchanged today despite no longer featuring three distinct flavors.
In the 1950s, Mars Inc. was on much better financial footing, the war was over and sugar was abundant and cheap again.
The company decided to put in its first major ad spend for the 3 Musketeers candy bar through television advertising.
The brand purchased advertising spots on “Howdy Doody,” a popular children’s television program.
They were one of the first candy manufacturers to use the television to reach kids directly.
In 1998, Mars Inc. needed to shift how the 3 Musketeers was being marketed, due to the healthy trends of the time.
Will Vinton Studios, the creative force behind M&M’s characters and The California Raisins, crafted the campaign’s core visual: three actors embodying the iconic Three Musketeers.
The creative team put together a message that emphasized the bar’s newly reduced fat content, with a new slogan that said “Big on Chocolate, Not on Fat!” — it highlighted the product’s new 45% lower fat content.
For its 75th anniversary, the 3 Musketeers brand expanded beyond its classic chocolate bar in 2007, introducing its first variation: 3 Musketeers Mint.
That fall, Mars also released an “Autumn Minis Mix” featuring three distinct flavors:
The following year, Mars then added three fruit-infused options to the lineup.
Two featured dark chocolate shells—one with cherry filling, another with raspberry.
The third combined milk chocolate with orange filling.
In 2015, Mars, Inc. needed a new strategy to reach Generation Z viewers.
So, they launched a new YouTube channel.
The channel centered on three teenage characters—Emily, Buz, and G—and delivered its content through a partnership between Tribal Worldwide and Buzzfeed.
Mars introduced the Birthday Cake flavor of 3 Musketeers in 2019, their first new flavor since 2013.
The new bar contained vanilla nougat studded with rainbow sprinkles and covered in milk chocolate.
Mars Inc. partnered with Walmart as the initial launch partner, releasing the candy in two sizes there in October 2018:
Seeing major success in Walmart, the new Birthday Cake flavor reached stores nationwide in January 2019.
Most recently, the 3 Musketeers brand launched a digital marketing campaign called “Throw Shine,” targeting teenage consumers through Instagram, TikTok, and other social platforms.
The campaign featured singer Bea Miller and placed motivational messages directly on candy bar wrappers.
Mars, Inc and 3 Musketeers brand has shifted from traditional advertising like TV ad and print to social media-focused brand engagement.
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