A man has received £2 compensation for the trauma of buying a Mars bar without its signature ripple.
Harry Seager’s photographic evidence of a ripple-less Mars bar has sparked a frenzy online, generating thousands of likes, comments and shares when he posted it in the Dull Men’s Club Facebook page.
The photo has now received more than 15,000 reactions and 3,000 comments from users dubbing it “unsettling” and “hideous”.
The broadcast worker, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, said he initially thought the lack of ripple was a new “cost-cutting measure”.
He said: “Then I showed my friend, and he said that he had eaten one the day before which had a ripple in it.”
He continued: “We then worked out that it was more than likely a manufacturing defect. It still tasted exactly the same.”
But Mars has now confirmed it was a one-off mistake – and the classic design is here to stay, thank goodness.
Mr Seager was on the way to a classic car show in Birmingham with friends and picked up the chocolate bar at a service station in Thame, Oxfordshire.
“The only reason I emailed [Mars] was because I was interested in what might have caused it to happen. That is all I wanted to know and they kept side-lining that question,” he said.
“I think £2 is great, it will be two free Mars bars. Maybe they could have sent me more but I’m not being ungrateful. I think it’s amazing after everything that’s happened that I got the £2 voucher.”
Mars bars were first made by hand in Slough, Berkshire, in 1932, and are still made in the town.
“A few people who used to work at Mars’ factories commented [on Facebook] and they said it goes through a machine called an enrober, which is like the waterfall the bars go through,” Mr Seager added.
“Apparently they get blown with air along the top as it comes out of that waterfall. Apparently there’s meant to be somebody at the end who removes the ones which haven’t been hit by the air.”
