snickering

Recently I've seen lots of Snickers ads on buses and taxis that feature the recognizable Snickers colors and typeface, but in place of the product's name are made-up words like "satisfectellent," "Peanutopolis," and "Nougatocity." I suppose the ads are supposed to make you say "Huh?," and I guess there'll be a payoff soon in some sort of bigger Snickers ad (maybe we'll all learn how we can move to Peanutopolis to start a new life that really satisfies us), but for now all I can do is question the effectiveness of the made-up words I've seen:

1. "Satisfectellent" — I'm sure a combo of "satisfactory" and "excellent" is what the Mars Inc. marketing team was going for, but without that crucial s sound in "excellent," the second word I initially see in the combo is "repellent." I might be the only one who sees that since the combo word is "satisfectellent," not "satisfactellent," but now I'm realizing that the "fec" part also makes my mind jump forward to "fecal." Snickers = fecal ... probably not a connection the Mars marketing team wants you to make.

2. "Peanutopolis" — This word makes the most sense to me. A play on "Metropolis." I got it. Boom. But it also sounds a tad Greek, e.g. "The Peanutopolises are a family who would be greeted very warmly in Plains, Georgia."


3. "Nougatocity" — Why not just Nougat City, Mars marketeers? Because you needed a combo word, not two separate words? No no NO!!!!! No one lives in Newyorkocity or Siouxocity or Jeffersonocity. (I even checked MapQuest.)

4. I'm a moron who just realized that "nougatocity" isn't what I thought it was—it's a play on words like "velocity." Nougatocity measures how much nougat is in a Snickers bar, I guess. Fine, you win this round, Mars.