So I like a candy bar every now and again. I can’t deny it; a nice, hearty candy bar can help be that little late afternoon pick-me-up when I’m away from the house or I’ve got late dinner plans or something. So candy bars are alright with me. I’m also a writer who’s fascinated with language. I love words; I’m very keen on discovering new language; opening up my vocabulary to the wonder and beauty which is the written word. So combine candy bars and new words and I’m a pig in muck.
I had to break a $20 bill for a friend the other day so I happened on a local market and as a service fee I cashed in $.80 or so from his $20 to enjoy the peanut, chocolate, caramel, and nougat goodness which is a Snickers bar. I always dug on Snickers because when I was little and my dad would eat them, he’d somehow rationalize to me that his Snickers bar was somehow or other superior to my Devil Dog or Funny Bone or whatever other garbage I was eating. To make my dad proud I adopted the Snickers bar years and years ago as my official candy bar (I had just come off a long and rather rocky relationship with the Skor bar; it’s a tragic story; I don’t want to talk about it). Not to mischaracterize it that I eat candy bars all the time; my dad would probably just assume I eat salmon or couscous or something like that; but whenever I’m on a road trip or have that need between long periods of not eating, I enjoy a Snickers bar.
So it was that I cashed back my friends change, got to a secret place, and carefully peeled back the wrapper to reveal: Nougatocity? Huh? What the heck is Nougatocity? Well according to the wrapper of this Snickers bar, Nougatocity is: “A heightened yet fleeting state of accomplishment that makes you realize how unbelievably unmotivated you normally are.” Ahhh! You mean post Snickers sugar shock. Right. Or Nougatocity.
It seems that Snickers is using the ploy of this made up word to try and seep themselves into popular culture; the same way a turn of phrase like “So easy a caveman can do it,” or “Tastes Great/Less Filling,” will immediately spring to mind a certain insurance or beer.
Snickers didn’t really think this one through for a few reasons. The first of these being that Snickers still has that phrase (“Snickers really satisfies you”) from the 80’s or whatever. While today’s tripped out, party-kid generation may not remember that phrase, it was the first thing I thought of. Of course there’s another reason why Nougatocity will never make it into the advertising hall of fame; people can’t pronounce that word. Nougat is a tough enough word to say without adding a hastily shoved on suffix to the mix.
It would serve Snickers well to not try and push this one down our throats; it will only come back up the way it was shoved down. And there’s nothing worse than enjoying a wonderful Snickers bar in both directions.
