A full-sized 1.79-ounce Twix bar comes in two pieces, side-by-side — one comes on the left side, and the other comes on the right side. This arbitrary packaging has inspired a mock-divisive ad campaign known to fans as the Left Twix versus Right Twix debate. As the official Twix website puts it, “A Twix Chocolate Bar offers such an awesome combination of crunchy cookie, delicious caramel and creamy chocolate, that it had to come in two. After all, Two is More Than One.” It’s a popular candy bar for a reason (Twix has even inspired stunning chocolatey dessert creations), but both sides of the bar are the same. The name “Twix” itself is a combination of the words “twin sticks.”
Maybe confectionery parent company Mars, Inc. saw Mike and Ike candy’s “Break Up” ad campaign of 2012 and felt inspired. Per the competitor campaign, some boxes of the candy (which itself remained unchanged) were labelled as only “Ike,” with the “Mike” on the box appearing furtively scratched out with black marker, while “Mike” boxes had the “Ike” scratched out. Whether or not the tactic accrued the candy any new customers isn’t the point (here at Tasting Table, we actually aren’t loving the flavor of Mike and Ikes). The point is that “Left Twix” and “Right Twix” are the same candy — but it’s a gimmick that the company plays into and upon which it has based an entire marketing campaign.
The gimmick intentionally faux-encourages consumers to pick a side, spurring playful debate
The ingredients label on Twix packaging explicitly notes that the information is for the “2 cookies” serving size contained therein. One particularly impassioned theory posted on Reddit argues that many American consumers will naturally eat the Left Twix first because their brains have been trained to read from left to right — and that, by the time they reach the Right Twix, “sensory fatigue” will have set in, creating the illusion that the first Twix (which happened to be on the left) is somehow more delicious than the second Twix (which happened to be on the right). Although Twix began labelling its individually-wrapped snack-size bars as being “left” or “right” Twix in 2017, the matter is further complicated by the fact that sideways-oriented full-size Twix bars do not have a definitive top or bottom edge, and therefore cannot have a designated left or right candy bar.
Sensory fatigue aside, one Twix commercial, which came out over a decade ago, debunks the “debate” once and for all.” The commercial shares a fictional story of twin brothers Seamus and Earl. The brothers, unable to agree on how their chocolate bar should be made, diverged and ultimately both came up with (surprise) identical processes. Per the commercial, Left Twix “flowed” caramel on the cookie, while Right Twix “cascaded” caramel on the cookie, and the Left Twix is “bathed” in chocolate, while the Right Twix is “cloaked” in chocolate. The commercial is self-aware that there is no difference.
