The Aporia · Mars Bar from 1991 found - and it's 56% bigger than today's

Mars Bar from 1991 found - and it's 56% bigger than today's

Read the original at BBC News ↗

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Maslin, E. (2026, August 11). Mars Bar from 1991 found - and it's 56% bigger than today's. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1j1kjy7gewo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

A 35-year-old Mars Bar found during a house clearance in Scunthorpe has gone viral, highlighting claims that food companies are engaging in "shrinkflation". The bar weighs 62.5g, which is 56% more than the current 40g weight of a Mars Bar. Victoria Gordon, who discovered the bar, posted a photo on social media and plans to possibly take it on a UK tour after initially considering throwing it away. A spokesperson for Mars Incorporated stated that updates to their bar sizes have been made over the years in response to consumer demand and external factors such as manufacturing costs.

Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-08-21, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

A 35-year-old Mars Bar has been discovered during a house clearance in Scunthorpe, sparking a social media frenzy. The chocolate bar, which still had a best-before date of 1991, was found by Victoria Gordon, who runs a cleaning service, and weighs 62.5g compared to the current version's 40g. This discovery has gone viral amid claims it highlights the phenomenon of "shrinkflation", where products gradually reduce in size over time. A Mars spokesperson explained that the company has made changes to their bar sizes over the years due to various factors, including consumer demand and manufacturing costs. The finding is also significant because the old Mars Bar would have been 56% larger than its modern counterpart. Gordon may be sitting on a "gold mine" as she considers what to do with the vintage treat.

Written for “Mars Size Increase Mystery” on 2026-10-16, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

18%

3 of 17 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

72/100

BBC News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Other

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-08-11 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

BBC News · 3535 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 3 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Eleanor Maslin

2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 Conway's resignation, which will formally come into effect on 1 October, was confirmed in a statement from the Church of England. "

2026-09-21 · assertive framing · Bishop of Lincoln resigns amid sex assault inquiry

🔮 Gordon, who runs Pocket Rockets, is not sure what she will do with the bar, but she said she might be sitting on a "gold mine".

2026-08-11 · assertive framing · Mars Bar from 1991 found - and it's 56% bigger than today's

Also by Eleanor Maslin

Bishop of Lincoln resigns amid sex assault inquiry

2026-09-21 · BBC News

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

BBC Radio Lincolnshire Mars Bar Mars Bars Scunthorpe This Mars Bar

Subjects

Gordon PERSON · 2× BBC Radio Lincolnshire ORG · 1× Celebrations ORG · 1× Galaxy ORG · 1× Hotel Chocolat ORG · 1× M&Ms ORG · 1× Mars, Incorporated ORG · 1× Pedigree ORG · 1× Scunthorpe GPE · 1× Victoria Gordon PERSON · 1×

Narrative

A Mars spokesperson said: "Over the last 35 years, we have made a number of updates to our bar sizes and pack formats to reflect consumer demand, alongside considering wider external factors such as manufacturing costs and the price of cocoa."

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-11

🔮 Gordon, who runs Pocket Rockets, is not sure what she will do with the bar, but she said she might be sitting on a "gold mine".

2026-08-11 · BBC News

Mars Bar from 1991 found - and it's 56% bigger than today's · assertive framing

Claims (17 extracted, 3 hedged)

- Published A 35-year-old Mars Bar has been found during a house clearance – and the discovery has gone viral amid claims it highlights the effect of "shrinkflation". uncertain

it → publish → shrinkflation

The chocolate bar with a best-before date of 1991 was found during a clear-out of a house in Scunthorpe. asserted

bar → find → Scunthorpe

Victoria Gordon, who runs the cleaning service, posted a photo on social media of the 62.5g bar alongside one of today's Mars Bars, which is 40g. "It was nearly as big as my hand, which was kind of why I noticed it," she said. asserted

she → run → it

Speaking on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, Gordon said: "We were clearing out a hoarder's house and everything we were rooting through was decades old. asserted

we → speak → house

"This Mars Bar stood out to me because as I picked it up it was nearly the whole length of my hand. asserted

it → stand → hand

"I was like, 'Wow, look at the size of that!'" asserted

I → look → that

Who makes Mars Bars? asserted

Who → make → Bars

Mars Bars are made by US company Mars, Incorporated. asserted

Bars → make → Incorporated

The manufacturer also owns several other chocolate brands including Celebrations chocolate tubs, Galaxy, Hotel Chocolat, M&Ms and Maltesers. asserted

manufacturer → own → tubs

It also owns non-chocolate brands including Dreamies, Hubba Bubba, Pedigree and Whiskas. asserted

It → own → Dreamies

The company was founded in 1883 by Frank C Mars, from Minnesota, with his mother Elva teaching him how to hand-dip chocolate. asserted

mother → found → chocolate

Mars Bars were first made by hand in Slough, Berkshire in 1932 and are still made in the town. asserted

Bars → make → town

we → say → cocoa

Gordon, who runs Pocket Rockets, is not sure what she will do with the bar, but she said she might be sitting on a "gold mine". uncertain

she → run → mine

"I do post some hoarding videos but I've never had anything go this viral," she said. asserted

she → post → videos

"It's so fascinating what people find so interesting. asserted

people → find → ?

I almost put it in the skip [but] I might do a UK tour with it." uncertain

I → put → it