Changing times

Things I very rarely normally do - watch TV, drink Coca-Cola, eat Mars bars. I'm on holiday, and find myself doing all three. Coke - I will drink only the bottled (200ml) stuff, in the classic-shaped glass bottle, served very cold, outside the shop in the hot sun. This is the way Coca-Cola should be drunk; I find the sight of large waddly people loading six-packs of two litre plastic bottles of Coke indicative of the way we live today, lives out of balance.

And now the Mars bar. When setting off to climb a thousand metre high peak, you need provisions in the form of a compact sugary confection packing the glucose punch required to move tired muscles. And, atop the summit, taking a rest while eating my Mars bar and enjoying the view, it is a well-earned treat.

When I was a boy, "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play*" was the slogan.

I think about it. Not a slogan for our times!

Today, the hapless copywriter would be dragged in to his boss's office.

"A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play? What on earth were you thinking? Surely that should read A ten-pack of maxi-sized jumbo Mars bars (buy two get one half-price) helps you... well, you're the copywriter, come up with an ace slogan that will have the consumers driving their oversized butts to the nearest confectionary warehouse and stocking up with as many pallets of Mars bars as the axle load limit of their SUVs permits!"

"A Mars a day" is hardly a stretch target for today's corporates, their growth-hungry managers and shareholders. "A Mars a day" harks back to a gentler era when sustainability was in the best interest of company and consumer.

* Contrary to urban myth, the slogan was not devised by British motorsports commentator Murray Walker.