Oh dear. Sometimes I feel like I forgot to buckle up for a ride on H.G. Wells’ time machine.

The Mars corporation has just introduced the Fling, a chocolate and hazelnut candy bar aimed at the female market. NPR says:

Wrapped in a shiny pink and sliver package, this delicate “chocolate finger” is intended for women. The word “finger” is an industry term for a long, slim confection, Mars spokesman Ryan Bowling says, but with ads that invite you to “Pleasure yourself” in pink lettering, consumers might come to other conclusions.”

With promotional postcards like the one above and a TV spot that starts out with the assumption that strangers are having sex in a store’s dressing room, it sure sounds like Mars is pushing the “I’m too sexy for my candy bar” button. Word is that the confection is only 85 calories. Is that for the whole bar, or just one finger? No matter how good the candy bar tastes, the taste of the Fling campaign may end up getting the middle finger from female consumers.