Ladies, Mars Wants You to Have a Fling

Mars has introduced its first new candy bar in 20 years—and a racy marketing campaign to go along with it, NPR reports. The Fling is a "chocolate finger" of meringue and truffle painted with a "shimmering" chocolate coating, and both the 85-calorie size and the very pink, faux scandalous advertisements are aimed squarely at women.

From a commercial that seems to open with strangers having sex in a dressing room to the campaign's slogan—"Pleasure yourself"—some think that Mars is coming on too strong. "The overall campaign feels weird, it feels creepy," says the author of a book on marketing to women. So far, the Fling is available only in California.
(More marketing stories.)