With a name that sounds like it should be minty, Topic spent decades of advertising explaining that it very much isn't — it's a hazelnut bar, and it wants you to know it.
A distinctive top layer
Topic is built from a hazelnut praline centre, topped with a layer of nougat, and coated in milk chocolate. What sets it apart visually from other Mars bars is the top: chopped hazelnut pieces are pressed into the chocolate coating before it sets, giving the bar a rough, nutty texture across the top rather than a smooth chocolate shell.
Six decades under the Mars name
Mars launched Topic in the UK in 1962, manufactured from its long-running Slough factory alongside other staples of the UK range. It has stayed in continuous production ever since, making it one of the older bars still sold under the Mars UK banner, even as newer products have come and gone around it.
Why "not a hint of mint" mattered
Topic's advertising had a specific problem to solve: a name that sounded like it belonged to a mint bar, in a market with several popular mint chocolate bars already established. The solution became one of the bar's most memorable slogans, built around the rhyme "it's not a hint of mint, it's a hint of nut, that's Topic," spelling out the hazelnut flavour directly against expectation.
Where to find it today
Topic is less common on supermarket shelves than it once was but still made, and it sits well alongside other long-running bars in our chocolate and retro sweets collections.
Frequently asked questions
What's inside a Topic bar?
A Topic bar has a hazelnut praline centre topped with a layer of nougat, the whole thing coated in milk chocolate and studded with visible chopped hazelnuts across the top.
When was Topic launched?
Mars launched Topic in the UK in 1962, and it has remained in production since, making it one of the longer-running bars in the Mars UK range.
What was Topic's advertising slogan?
Topic's best-known slogan played on its similarity in name to mint bars on the market at the time: "it's not a hint of mint, it's a hint of nut, that's Topic," distinguishing it clearly from mint-flavoured rivals like Aero.