Mars POLITICAL

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

No public evidence identified of any Mars, Incorporated corporate statement specifically addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict, the October 7, 2023 attack, or the Gaza war. By contrast, Mars CEO Poul Weihrauch issued a public statement on the Russia-Ukraine war in March 2022 stating Mars was “appalled by what is happening in Ukraine” and pledging support for Ukrainian associates and their safety ¹. Mars separately issued a statement regarding its continued Russia operations, framing continued sales of chocolate, gum, and pet food as fulfilling an “essential role in feeding the Russian people and pets” while stating that “business as usual [in Russia] is not an option” ^{2, 3}. This produces an identifiable comparative asymmetry: Mars has made specific, CEO-attributed public statements on the Ukraine conflict but no identified equivalent statement on Israel-Palestine ¹. Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) designated Mars an “international sponsor of the war” on 1 September 2023, citing 10 factories operating in Russia, more than 6,000 jobs, $2.45 billion in 2022 Russian turnover, over $93 million in taxes paid to the Russian federal budget, and a 59% rise in net profit to $377 million, and finding that Mars had contradicted its own pledge that “any profit from Russian business will be used for humanitarian purposes” ^{4, 5}; the designation was independently reported by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre ⁶. B4Ukraine subsequently documented Mars leasing over 40,000 sq m in a Moscow logistics complex under construction, despite Mars’s March 2022 statement that it would cease new investments and halt advertising in Russia ⁷, and publicly called on Mars and PepsiCo to exit Russia following the Ukrainian designation ⁸. The KSE Institute’s Leave Russia tracker, last updated 5 February 2026, records Mars as “Stay Continue Operations,” noting a June 2025 rental of 40,000 sq m of New Moscow warehousing from Level Group and a 4.5–9% price increase on Mars chocolate bars and candies ⁹. Mars has issued dated public statements in other non-Israel contexts as well: a $20 million cash and in-kind community commitment announced 3 April 2020 in response to COVID-19 ¹⁰, and an August 2020 open address in which then-CEO Grant Reid addressed “systemic racial injustice which has surfaced so glaringly” ¹¹. The only substantive market-framing language identified for Israel describes the relationship with Jerusalem Venture Partners as a “first-of-its-kind research and development agreement,” framed around innovation and startup support rather than standard distribution or market operations ^{12, 13, 14}. The Mars executives quoted in that announcement framed it in scientific and commercial rather than geopolitical terms: Jean-Christophe Flatin, President of Innovation, Science, Technology & Mars Edge, stated that Mars “is passionate about leveraging leading science and technology to innovate,” and George Graham, Vice President of the Mars Advanced Research Institute, stated that Mars was “eager to partner with JVP and tap into the innovative ecosystem of the Israeli food, health and technology community” ¹³.

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Mars Wrigley Israel Ltd. is registered and headquartered at 26 Zarhin Street, Raanana, Central District, Israel - a location within Israel’s internationally recognized 1949 armistice lines, not within the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, or a settlement ^{15, 16}. No manufacturing or factory presence has been identified for Mars in Israel; the BDS Movement’s 2024 report, as characterized by secondary advocacy sources, reportedly describes Mars’s distribution partnership with Israel’s Strauss Group as grounds for a “secondary target” designation, arguing it indirectly bolsters Israel’s economy ^{17, 18}. No public evidence identified of Mars, Mars Wrigley, Mars Petcare, or affiliated brands appearing on the UN OHCHR Database of Business Enterprises pursuant to HRC Resolutions 31/36 and 53/25, or on the Wikipedia-compiled list of companies operating in West Bank settlements that reflects that database ^{19, 20, 21}. No public evidence identified of Mars appearing by name in UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s July 2025 report A/HRC/59/23, “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide”; the food and agriculture companies specifically named in that report are Tnuva and Netafim, not Mars or its brands ²². No public evidence identified of legal challenges, regulatory actions, or international-body scrutiny specifically targeting Mars’s Israel operations, as distinguished from general BDS advocacy commentary.

Feldman Ice Cream signed an agreement with Mars, Incorporated, reported 6 March 2019, to be the exclusive marketer in Israel of seven Mars-branded chocolate ice cream lines - Mars, Snickers, Twix, M&M, Maltesers, Galaxy and Bounty - sold through Feldman’s chain of roughly 70 ice cream stores plus supermarket, grocery, kiosk and institutional channels ^{23, 24}; the subsequent status of this agreement (renewal or discontinuation) is not confirmed by any source located in this review. No primary source - from Mars, from Strauss Group, or from contemporaneous business press - corroborating the asserted Mars–Strauss distribution arrangement was identified; the only verifiable, dated Israeli distribution partner identified in this review is Feldman Ice Cream, and only for ice cream. JVP’s founder Erel Margalit established the fund in 1993 and served as a Labor Party member of the Knesset from 5 February 2013 to 3 October 2017 ²⁵; no evidence linking Margalit or JVP specifically to settlement enterprises was identified.

Mars completed its acquisition of Kellanova on 11 December 2025 ²⁶, bringing Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats, RXBAR and Kellogg’s international cereal brands under Mars ownership; the combined business was projected to generate approximately $36 billion in annual revenues ²⁷. Diplomat Global’s Israel vendor page lists Kellogg’s and Pringles among the brands it distributes in Israel ²⁸. A check of the AFSC Investigate company database - which lists roughly 500 companies from A. P. Moller Maersk to Zurich Insurance Group - returned no entry for Diplomat Group, Kellanova, Kellogg’s, or Mars ²⁹. Kellanova’s Pringles brand was named on a viral Indonesian/Malaysian social-media boycott list of 121 brands, which the South China Morning Post reported claims Israel affiliation “without providing evidence” ³⁰.

Mars and its brands - including M&M’s, Snickers, and Wrigley’s - are individually listed on BDS-adjacent tracking sites citing the JVP foodtech partnership and academic-institution collaborations with Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute, and Technion as grounds ^{17, 18, 31}. A March 2024 TikTok-driven #BoycottMars campaign reportedly went viral, with associated grassroots pressure on retailers in Malaysia and Qatar to pull Mars products, per secondary-source characterization of the BDS Movement’s 2024 report ¹⁷. No public evidence identified of any official Mars corporate response, statement, or rebuttal to these boycott campaigns. Documented checks against named published lists return negative results: Mars does not appear on the BDS Movement’s official priority boycott targets page dated 6 December 2024, whose named consumer, grassroots and pressure targets include Chevron, Intel, Dell, Siemens, HP, Microsoft, Carrefour, AXA, Teva, SodaStream and RE/MAX but not Mars, M&M’s, Snickers or Royal Canin ³², nor on Ethical Consumer’s Palestine boycott list of approximately 50 priority targets ³³. The low-authority sites listing Mars cite the 2019 JVP partnership as their evidentiary basis, and their characterisation of a “BDS Movement’s 2024 report” designating Mars a secondary target could not be corroborated against the BDS Movement’s own published materials ³².

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

No public evidence identified of HR enforcement actions, disciplinary measures, terminations, or legal actions involving Mars or Mars Wrigley employees related to Israel-Palestine speech, political symbols, or union activity. Mars is a consumer packaged-goods company without a social-media or content-moderation platform of its own, making platform and editorial policy not a substantively applicable category for this target. A Court of Justice of the European Union ruling of 12 November 2019 established that foodstuffs originating in territories occupied by Israel sold in the EU must bear an indication of their territory of origin and, where they come from an Israeli settlement, of that provenance ³⁴; no Mars-specific product-labeling, sourcing, or regulatory action tying Mars products to Israeli-settlement origin was identified. No public evidence identified of regulatory actions or public reports specifically regarding labeling, sourcing, or origin-categorization of Mars products connected to Israel or settlements.

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

No public evidence identified of Mars utilizing military heritage, defense-sector ties, or state-security origins in its commercial branding, consistent with a company profile rooted in confectionery and consumer goods rather than defense. The Mars-JVP research and development partnership, announced May 15, 2019, commits Mars to working with Israeli academic institutions Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute, Technion, Migal, and Tel Hai College on foodtech innovation via Mars Edge and the Mars Advanced Research Institute ^{12, 13, 14, 35, 36}. The partnership was explicitly part of JVP’s broader Foodtech initiative to position Israel’s Upper Galilee region as a “global Foodtech epicenter,” linking the arrangement to regional economic development ^{12, 14}. The Mars Family Trust, a philanthropic vehicle linked to the Mars family and distinct from Mars, Incorporated the corporation, is listed as a donor to the Jerusalem Foundation, funding the “Chai Preschool” project in Jerusalem’s Musrara neighborhood and the “Caring Community” initiative spanning Beit Safafa, Neve Ya’acov, A-Tur, East Talpiot, and Romema ^{37, 38, 39}. No public evidence identified characterizing the Caring Community program itself as settlement-linked infrastructure; it is described in available sourcing as a social and educational welfare program ³⁹. No public evidence identified of Mars accepting state honors, hosting Israeli government officials, or sponsoring state-backed cultural or PR campaigns such as “Brand Israel.”

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

Mars’s own public policy and advocacy page states that the company “does not make financial contributions to candidates, or to political parties or committees,” does not “contribute corporate funds to support electioneering communications,” and does “not have an employee PAC,” while noting that associates may make personal political contributions with their own funds ⁴⁰. Mars, Incorporated reported federal lobbying expenditure of $2,000,000 in 2024 and $1,000,000 in 2025 (partial year) per OpenSecrets data ^{41, 42}. No public evidence identified that any disclosed lobbying activity specifically addressed Israel-Palestine policy, anti-BDS state legislation, or Middle East trade policy ^{41, 42}. No public evidence identified of Mars, Incorporated or Mars family members holding leadership roles in pro-Israel or anti-BDS advocacy organizations. No public evidence identified of Mars, Incorporated corporate donations to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), JNF/KKL, or other Israeli military-welfare bodies; a Truthout investigation into billionaire FIDF donors names Bernie Marcus, Haim Saban, Casey Wasserman, Paul Singer, Larry Ellison, Jan Koum, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, and the Kushner family as major donors, with no Mars family member or Mars entity appearing in that compilation ^{43, 44}. A detailed review of Mars family philanthropic vehicles - including the Mars HQ Regional Foundation, Virginia Cretella Mars Foundation, North Star Charitable Foundation, and Mars Snacking Foundation, and major individual gifts by Jacqueline Mars, Victoria Mars, John and Adrienne Mars, and Frank and Susan Alleman Mars - shows giving concentrated in arts and culture, education, conservation, and general humanitarian causes, with no documented Israel- or Jewish-organization-specific grants identified ⁴⁵. No public evidence identified of Mars directing corporate resources, logistics, free services, or infrastructure to Israeli state, military, or state-aligned NGO efforts during the current conflict.

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Mars, Incorporated is a privately held, family-owned company that does not file SEC 10-K disclosures ⁴⁶. John Mars and his sister Jacqueline Mars are each estimated to own about one-third of the company, with the four daughters of the late Forrest Mars Jr. believed to own the remainder ⁴⁷. Because Mars has no public equity or shareholder base, the SEC equity-proxy and shareholder-resolution mechanisms used at publicly traded companies to file Israel-related human-rights resolutions do not apply to it ⁴⁷; no public evidence identified of any Israel-Palestine-related shareholder proposal at Mars. No public evidence identified that Mars’s corporate charter or founding documents tie its primary mission to advancing any state’s geopolitical goals; the company’s stated mission centers on confectionery, food, snacking, and petcare commerce, and no golden-share or state-ownership structures have been identified.

Executive & Leadership Footprint

No public evidence identified of Mars family personal donations to FIDF, JNF, or other Israel-linked parastatal or military-welfare organizations, based on the most detailed available philanthropy sourcing ^{45, 43, 44}. CEO Poul Weihrauch made a specific, named public statement on the Ukraine conflict in 2022 ¹; No public evidence identified of any equivalent statement, op-ed, or social media activity by Weihrauch or other Mars C-suite or family members regarding Israel-Palestine. Weihrauch took over as CEO and Office of the President in September 2022, having served on the Mars Leadership Team since 2011 ⁴⁸. Stephen M. Badger, a Mars family member and son of Jacqueline Mars, serves on the Mars, Inc. board of directors; his identified additional roles - General Partner at The March Group, a venture firm focused on food, health and sustainability, and a board seat at the conservation publisher Island Press - are unrelated to Israel or to pro-Israel/anti-BDS advocacy ⁴⁹. Jean-Christophe Flatin (President, Innovation, Science, Technology & Mars Edge) and George Graham (Vice President, Mars Advanced Research Institute) are the named Mars executives quoted in the 2019 JVP partnership announcement ¹³; no public evidence identified of further personal Israel-related financial or advocacy activity - donations, board seats in pro-Israel organizations, or anti-BDS lobbying - for either individual beyond those stated professional roles. No public evidence identified of Mars founders, family shareholders, or C-suite executives holding board seats, leadership roles, or advisory positions in geopolitical pressure groups, state-aligned Israeli academic institutions, or pro-Israel/anti-BDS lobbying organizations.