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Mars, Inc.
It’s 1986, and somewhere in the gleaming offices of Mars, Incorporated, a marketing genius is having the idea of a lifetime.
What if we could make parents feel good about giving their kids candy for breakfast?
This wasn’t just wishful thinking. This marked the beginning of Kudos Bars’ history and one of the most controversial marketing campaigns in snack food history.
Frank C. Mars started his candy company in 1911, mixing buttercream in his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington. By the 1980s, Mars Inc. had grown into a candy powerhouse, churning out Snickers, Milky Way, and M&Ms from its McLean, Virginia headquarters.
But Mars had a problem. The health-conscious ’80s were making parents skeptical of pure candy. They needed a trojan horse.
This is where the granola bar comes into the story.
In 1986, Mars launched Kudos Bars with three simple flavors: Nutty Fudge, Chocolate Chip, and Peanut Butter. But these weren’t ordinary granola bars.
They were completely covered in milk chocolate.
The marketing was genius. Mars positioned Kudos as “tomorrow’s snack, today” — a healthy granola bar that just happened to taste like candy. The TV commercials showed kids powering up for tennis matches and Little League games, all while that infectious jingle played:
“Kudos, I’m Yours!”
Parents saw “granola.” Kids tasted a “candy bar.” Everyone was happy.
Throughout the ’90s, Kudos dominated. They ruled the lunch box. They conquered the after-school snack market. By 1990, Mars had expanded to seven different flavors.
Middle school teachers were literally throwing them at students as rewards during assemblies. Former students would later reminisce about letting the peanut butter ones melt on their fingers just to lick off the chocolate.
This was peak Kudos. A 1.25-ounce bar packing 180 calories of pure childhood bliss, deceiving parents as health food.
But America was getting smarter.
By 1993, nutritionists and parents were asking uncomfortable questions:
Wait... how is a chocolate-covered bar with 1 gram of protein and 1 gram of fiber actually healthy?
Mars panicked. Their response? “Simply Kudos” — stripped of the beloved chocolate coating, reduced to a modest 100 calories. These sad, naked bars came in flavors like “Oatmeal Raisin” and tried desperately to look wholesome.
It was damage control, but it wasn’t enough.
In 2011, Mars made one last desperate attempt to save Kudos. If you can’t beat the candy reputation, embrace it.
They partnered with their candy brands, creating Kudos bars with actual M&Ms, Snickers pieces, and Dove chocolate embedded in them. The bars shrunk to 0.83 ounces and 100 calories, now looking more like traditional granola bars with chocolate drizzle instead of full coating.
Mars admitted: “Fine, we’re candy. But we’re granolacandy!”
By 2017, the jig was up. And the competition was heating up.
Clif bars arrived in 1992 with actual protein and fiber. Kind bars offered real nutrition with transparent ingredients. The market had moved toward authentic health foods, leaving no room for chocolate-covered imposters.
On Facebook, Mars delivered the final blow with corporate politeness: “The product has unfortunately been discontinued — our apologies for any inconvenience!”
Inconvenience?
Thirty-one years of Kudos Bars had come to an end.
Here’s where the story gets interesting.
In December 2020—three years after killing Kudos—Mars quietly renewed the trademark. Meanwhile, they spent $5 billion acquiring Kind, the very company that helped destroy their original healthy snack that wasn’t.
Could Kudos Bars be making a comeback to your lunchbox? We’ll have to wait and see.
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