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Mars, Inc.
From garage startups to discontinued candy bars, the best business stories often share one thing: they changed the rules of the game. Marathon Bar wasn’t just a great candy bar—it made memories that lasted longer than the product itself.
August 1973. Mars Inc. was already a powerhouse with Snickers and Milky Way dominating candy aisles across America.
But someone in the Mars boardroom had a crazy idea: What if we made a candy bar that was ridiculously, impossibly long?
While other candy companies were focused on making bars that fit neatly on standard shelves, Mars decided to create something that would force retailers to rethink their entire candy display strategy.
The execution was genius:
Mars didn’t apologize for the Marathon’s unconventional size. They celebrated it. The packaging literally proved how big the bar was, turning measurement into marketing magic.
The result? Within months, kids across America were walking into candy stores asking for “that really long candy bar with the ruler on it.”
After the launch of the Marathon Bar, Mars needed a marketing strategy.
Enter Patrick Wayne, son of legendary cowboy John Wayne. With his chiseled good looks and easy confidence, Patrick became “Marathon John,” the candy bar’s unlikely spokesperson.
Commercials featured a cowboy riding into town, facing off against villains named “Quick Claude” and “Captain Quick.” Their weapon of choice? An 8-inch braided caramel bar that “lasts a good long time.”
While other candy companies used boring, lecture-style commercials, Mars created mini TV episodes. Cowboys! Pirates! Adventure! All centered around a candy bar that refused to be eaten quickly.
Here’s where things get interesting. The Marathon bar was so unconventionally sized that it couldn’t fit on regular candy shelves.
Instead of seeing this as a problem, Mars saw an opportunity.
Marathon bars got their own special displays in stores across America, especially in 7-Eleven locations throughout the ’70s.
Sometimes being different isn’t a bug, it’s a feature that makes you impossible to ignore.
Eight years. That’s all the Marathon bar got.
By 1981, Mars pulled the plug. The bar that promised to “last a good long time” couldn’t last long enough in the marketplace.
Why did it fail?
Sometimes being too innovative means you’re ahead of your time—or just ahead of what people actually want.
Marathon bar wasn’t even an original concept.
Cadbury had been making the similar Curly Wurly bar in the UK since 1970—three years before Marathon launched. Mars created an American version of a British candy that already existed.
Even more confusing? Mars was already using the “Marathon” name in the UK for what Americans knew as Snickers. They didn’t change it to Snickers globally until 1990.
So yeah, they basically stole the idea.
Forty-plus years later, the Marathon bar remains a cult favorite.
Fans flood Mars with requests to bring it back. Online communities share memories. Import stores sell Curly Wurly bars to homesick Marathon lovers.
Marathon bar wasn’t just a candy bar—it was 8 inches of pure childhood joy that came with its own ruler and a cowboy mascot. In a world of cookie-cutter products, Marathon dared to be different.
And sometimes, being unforgettable is better than being successful.
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