When Mars, the maker of M&Ms, Skittles and Twix, embarked this year on its first new confectionery brand launch in 20 years, it turned to women for inspiration.

Fling, a chocolate bar on sale in California and online at www.flingchocolate.com, is quite clear about who its target market is: the slim fingers of shimmering chocolate are packaged in a bright pink wrapper with the slogan “Naughty, but not that naughty” while claiming to contain less than “85 calories per finger”.