Last week, Mars Inc. did the unthinkable, or so some of its most ardent fans would say. It announced it would be downsizing its range of chocolate bar products, including M&Ms, Snickers, and Dove Bars, to portions that are no more than 250 calories. It’s a move that’s not playing out well on its brand pages and on Twitter.

Judging by the nasty volley of comments hurled at Mars on the Wall of  its Snickers page, the confections giant could very well be facing sustained pressure to reverse its decision or face further protests and calls for boycotts. The decision was made by Mars execs over health (namely, obesity) concerns, but, from the Wall comments, you’d think the decision was purely political.

Commie candy? Some people really want their monster candy bar to remain intact.

And what has been Mars’ response? Nothing. In keeping with its policy to let people blow off steam on the Wall, it’s letting the comments sit there. As you can see above, these heated appeals are sandwiched between the odd work-from-home gimmicks and chain letters. Should Snickers be cleaning up its Wall posting policy? For now, no way.  The utter crap being thrown onto the Wall on a daily basis seems to undermine the attacks.

But it is disappointing that Mars isn’t being more aggressive taking this message to social media. It has set up a very shareable explainer page on its site that seems to be getting little notice. Also, it’s taken up the conversation on its corporate Facebook page where a whopping 3,563 fans reside. 3,563! That’s how many new fans join the Snickers page every week. It’s asked for input here on the changes and just 31 people have commented. If it really wanted to hear from the people it would have linked to the comment forum from its brand pages.

What’s to hide, Mars?

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