galaxy is an american chocolate bar why do british people

[Agent]

think its british its not its the same as dove and its made by an american company i hate britain learn how to be a republic you goddamn chocolate weirdos

[Agent]

the whole island should be bulldozed

[Samurai]

We like not being a republic. It means our head of state actually carries some gravitas. ;)

As for the chocolate, our misunderstanding over the origins of Mars-based products stems from similar marketing tactics that GM continue to use with some success in Europe -- call your products different names from their US counterparts and sort of imply without ever actually lying about the fact they're domestic.

Although they've changed tack with a lot of their products now, Snickers was called Marathon until the mid-90s, Starbursts were Opal Fruits and M&Ms were Treats. Others, interestingly, always retained their US names, including Mars, Milky Way and Galaxy, even though the ads were often quite different in the UK. The combination of marketing techniques has a lot of Brits feeling (without ever really stopping to think about it) that Mars products are therefore British -- and it probably helps that Galaxy tastes better than the chocolate brands well known for their US origins like Hershey.

In reality, of course, we barely have a domestic chocolate industry any longer, with Kraft busily destroying Cadbury and Ferrro having recently bought Thornton's. Hotel Chocolat, Bendicks after-dinner mints and a few independent choclatiers are all that's left, alas.

[Agent]

I have found that when people complain about american chocolate they are almost universally complaining about hershey's specifically.

[Samurai]

I've never really been struck with Galaxy either, to be honest. ;) But you're right, people returning here from the States always seem to have a bag of Hershey Kisses with them, for no reason I can determine.