Rebellion CEO: UK Should Celebrate GTA IV

No. No they weren't.

At least not in the UK. They were called Opal Fruits, and then 10 years ago they changed the name to Starburst.

However, fans were so upset that they mounted a campaign, and Mars is releasing a limited run of Opal Fruits, exclusively with Asda from May 11th for three months. But then they go back to being Starburst. Unless they are exceptionally popular I guess.


The only problem with that "fact" os that it isn't. A fact, that is.

They USED to be called Raider (not Radar) in Germany but now they are called Twix. It's all about globalisation. They want to be able to make al the candy wherever it is cheapest to make it and ship it to where-ever they need stock, without having to worry about what it says on the packet. So there are no regional variations anymore. We lost the Opal Fruits and the Marathon battles, we won the Twix one.

It's a hollow victory if you ask me. But maybe the Asda Opal Fruits thing marks a turn of the tides.

Perhaps if we mount a campaign, Rockstar will release some original games, instead re-hashes of GTA. But the way the public are lapping up GTA IV, I wouldn't count on it.

It's actually all about global conformity and worldwide recognisable branding rather than just shipping the cheapest chocolate all over the world. People can walk into a shop the world over and ask for a Twix and get a Twix and not a blank look. So we lose Marathon bars, yes, but we gain satisfaction when we're stuck in Niagara Falls and have the sudden urge for just the right combination of peanuts, nougat, caramel and thick, thick chocolate.

Remember that story about Coca Cola spending all that time and money finding regional names for coca cola that sounded like "Coca Cola" in the native language but also made sense? I think the Japanese translates to "Happiness in the Mouth", or something like that. The point being anyone from any country can order a Coca Cola and get a Coca Cola anywhere in the world.

Wow, from GTA thu the reunification of Ireland to internationally labelled chocolate bars in 30 easy posts.

And why exactly is there a need for "global conformity" when they managed fine without it for years before the name harmonisation. If they need it now, surely they needed it in the 70s and 80s!?

The fact is, with their gold wrappers and white outlines red text, Raiders were always clearly Twix. Marathon and Snickers were always clearly the same thing. The branding already worked... there was no confusion. And I'm saying this as someone who travelled widely, and bought Twix/Snickers/Raider/Marathon/Starburst in four continents before they harmonised the naming.

But in the dim and distant past, UK choc bars were made in the UK, US ones made in the US, German ones made in Germany. Nowadays, I end up eating Turkish Twixes, Spanish Snickers, and Swiss Starburst. So the requirement is for them to all have the same name, because while a traveller can cope with Twix being called something different in another country - no one expects the names of things to change on their local shelves on a weekly basis.

Occams razor, I think.

Isn't European chocolate different from that in the US?

At least thats what the Osbournes led me to believe...

UK Chocolate is. Our staple chocolate, Cadbury's Dairy Milk, tastes way different to a Hershey's bar. It's smoother and creamier.

We don't have Mr Goodbar, or Nutrageous or a lot of your other chocolate confectionery bars, they started selling Peanut Butter Cups here a year or so ago. We don't get Peppermint Patties - which is good a good thing, if we did, I'd be way fatter than I am now.

Our Snickers is pretty much the same as yours, I mean the chocolate coating might be different - but the majority of the taste comes from the nougat and peanuts.

European chocolate is different again. Whereas Chocolate was (until fairly recently) seen as a kids sweet in the UK in Europe there have been fine choclatiers for centuries. The Belgians and the Swiss particularly excel at the production of incredible chocolate, though I am lead to believe that there are some quite excellent boutique choclatiers in the US now too.

Yeah...we do a bit of vending (not much anymore), so I've always had free access to caseloads of candy. Luckily, for my health, at least, the slowdown in vending coincided with my metabolism's shutdown. I used to stuff my pockets with Nibs (red licorice bits).

Now the variety is more limited and we have to buy variety packs (from Sam's, like the bloody plebes, the candy wholesalers are extinct here, or we're beneath their notice or something) for everything but Snickers and M&Ms....its kinda hard to justify nicking a handful of 100 Grand bars when thats the full extent of our inventory. Mostly I eat what doen't sell, lately its been Nestle Crunch bars and Cheetos. (I've found I rather like Cheetos, I guess it was the inevitable orange fingers that put me off) The Cool Ranch Doritos (my fathers favorite, I originally suspected him of khyping them all) are sold out the instant we open the box.

Do y'all have Mounds and Almond Joy (drools)? We never sold them, so naturally they've always been desireable from my POV.

We so do not. in a country that is becoming more like the US every day (Walmart bought one of our biggest supermarket chains, we get your music, your movies and your TV) one area of marked difference is the candy counter. It always surprises me.

We have a vending machine in the eleventeenth/SPOnG building, and Config and I were planning to stock it with Peanut Butter M+Ms and other US candies. No we don't even get Peanut Butter M+Ms here. But in the end, the cost was prohibitive!

We don't have Cheetos. It's a different world here, but only in confectionery terms.

We do Have Nutrageous Bars and We have had Reeses Choclate for a good few years now, but only a few places sell it like woolworths i think i remember buying Peanut Butter Cups around 1998 for the first time, our choclate is more creamier like you say and i would say ours is sweeter, where as american chocolate is more bitter (darker variety of milk chocolate,

We Have Hershey Bars too now, obviuosly we have M&M`s in fact back in 1994 (i was 14) i won a comp for 2 years supply of M&M`s and i havent had them since, (worked out at one packet per day).

Hmmm, possibly due to lesser abundance of corn?

I'm not a "peanut butter person" myself...if someone got peanut butter in my chocolate I'd be rather upset. I prefer my peanuts dry roasted with plenty of salt. Mmmm, theres an idea...Dry Roasted Peanut M&Ms...

Cheetos are common in Spain, France, Germany etc but for some reason not in the UK, although ive seen selfridges sell them for £4.00 a BAG!!!! along with lucky charms cereal for £5.00 a box!!!

Cereal Marshmellows are a tool of the Cthullu, along with Peeps...in fact, according to the dietary strictures of the splinter sect of Pastafarianism I belong to, the only acceptable way to consume them is in conjunction with chocolate and graham crackers around a campfire.

Peeps, i seriously want to try those marshmallow chickens.

According to many misguided marshpollo gourmands, the preferred mode of eating them is as follows:

Step one:
Obtain your Peeps. They can be had cheaply and somewhat pre-aged following many holidays, the Vernal Equinox being the obvious one.
Step two:
Using a sewing needle, make a small hole in the packaging.
Step three:
Wait. Opinions vary on the proper amount of "ageing". This may a be a personal preference thing...just how stale you let them get is up to you.
Step four:
Open and consume immiediately.

edit:clarification to above post...Ceral Marshmellows and Peeps are never acceptable, only regular marshmellows, prepared as stated above...also, the FSM doesn't mind the tiny ones in hot chocoloate or cocoa, in moderation.

We've got Wotsits - haven't we? Or did they kill those when I was in bloody Australia?