The $35 Billion Chocolate Giant Mars Was Once Notoriously Private. Here's Why the Company Is Now Speaking Out.

Mars — the company behind brands like M&Ms, Snickers, and Twix — has been around for more than 100 years. And for most of its history, it has been notoriously private, shying away from the public eye. 

But during the last few years, the Mars family and company executives have started to speak out. They've started to make this shift, at least in part, because consumers are starting to care more about where products come from than they had in the past. 

"For most of our history, in fact ... for 99% of our history, we've chosen not to be in the public eye and we've really wanted our brands to engage consumers. And yet times have changed," Mars chairman Stephen Badger said. 

"Consumers do want to know more about not only the brands that they're buying, but the company that is behind them," Badger, who is also the great-grandson of the company's founder, Franklin Mars, said. 

Badger is right. A recent study by Label Insight, which surveyed 2,000 consumers, found that 94% of respondents would be more loyal to a brand if it offered complete transparency. 

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