M&M's

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M&M's small size wrapper.
M&M's small size wrapper.

M&M's are small, sugar-coated, milk chocolate candy pieces popular in many countries around the world. They are produced by Mars, Incorporated.

The candies were originally made in six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, brown, and violet. (Peanut candies were made in the same colors, except violet.) In 1949, Violet was taken out of the mix and was replaced by tan. Red was eliminated in 1976[1] because of health concerns about the red dye amaranth (FD&C Red #2), a suspected carcinogen. Despite the fact that M&M's did not contain the dye, red M&M's were removed to satisfy worried consumers. By 1987, the public had forgotten the scare, and the red candies were reintroduced. They currently contain Allura red AC (FD&C Red #40). In 1995, tan was replaced by blue.

The most popular (and the most common) M&M's are milk chocolate and peanut (with a layer of chocolate between the peanut and the candy shell). Several variations exist, but are harder to find: mint chocolate, dulce de leche, toffee, crispy, almond, peanut butter, white chocolate (with and without peanuts), and dark chocolate.


Contents

[edit] History

M&M's, one of the most popular candies in the United States, are based on the older British product, Smarties. Forrest Mars Sr. saw soldiers during the Spanish Civil War eating chocolate pellets that were coated in sugar to prevent chocolate from sticking to their fingers. After the rights were purchased by Americans Forrest Mars Sr. and R. Bruce Murrie in 1939, they had to reintroduce them to the domestic market with a different name because there was already a candy product sold in the U.S. under the name Smarties. To identify their new brand, they combined the first initials of their last names: M & M. M&M's were first sold in the United States in 1941. By World War II, American soldiers were given the candy by the United States Army because they were a convenient snack that traveled well in any climate; soon after this it was marketed to the public. M&M's soon became a hit because, in those times when air conditioning was not usually found in stores, homes, or the automobile, melting chocolate candy bars were a problem; but with M&M's, the candy coating kept the chocolate from getting messy.

In France, Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, Peanut M&M's were known as Treets until 1990. (In the UK, Treets like Minstrels came in only one color: Brown). The chocolate versions were called Bonitos until the brand became M&M's. This was partly due to the market dominance of the similar Smarties, which made competing under anything but a very high profile brand difficult, with the added risk of reducing sales of the existing Treets brand. Though Treets used the same "melt in your mouth not in your hand" slogan in the UK in the 1970s, this was transferred to Minstrels when the Treets brand was dropped.

In 1954, Peanut Chocolate Candies were introduced, while the M&M's brand characters and the famous slogan "The milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand" were both trademarked.

In 1988, "Almond M&M's" hit stores with limited release, with appearances only during Christmas and Easter times. These candies are much like the peanut variety, but with an almond instead of a peanut inside the candy. Due to rising popularity, Mars gave them full releases in 1992.

In 1990, "Peanut Butter M&M's" were released. These candies have peanut butter inside the chocolate center and the same color scheme as the other brands.

In 1993, Mars ran a promotion in which consumers were invited to vote on which of blue, pink, or purple would be introduced. Blue was the winner, and with the removal of tan, it was added in early 1995.

Around the same time, novelty M&M's were available in specialty stores, such as F.A.O. Schwarz, in 24 different colors.

In 1996, Mars introduced a new M&M candy: the "M&M's Minis." These candies are very small and are usually sold in small plastic tubes instead of bags. A video game, M&M's Minis Madness, was also eventually released, based on this candy.

In 1998, the "Crispy M&M's" were released. These are slightly larger than the milk chocolate variety and feature a crispy rice center.

In 2002, Mars ran another vote to add a new color from 3 choices. Once again, the general public were the voters. The 3 choices were turquoise, pink and purple. This time, purple won.[2]

In June 2004, M&M's were spotlighted in the media when Mike Melvill, who flew a weightless suborbital arc in SpaceShipOne the world's first private piloted space flight, opened up a package of the chocolate brand when he reached the border of space (100km) in order to demonstrate weightlessness as the candy floated in the cabin. Melvill chose the candies because they were both colorful, therefore showing up well on camera, and because once the g-level increased, if they fell into any of the controls they could be easily crushed and not interfere with the mechanisms (and maybe M&M refers also to his own initials). The stunt was totally unauthorized. Melvill stated that he never told his bosses that he was planning this.

In April of 2005, M&M's ran the "mPire" promotion to tie in with the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith movie release. M&M's were offered in a dark variety for the first time.

In the summer of 2005, Mars added "Mega M&M's" to the lineup. These candies are 55% larger than the traditional M&M's and are available in milk chocolate and peanut varieties. Most of the colors for Mega M&M's were also changed to less-bright colors—teal (replacing green), beige (orange), maroon (red), gold (yellow), brown (same as regular M&M's) and blue-gray (blue)—to appeal more to adults. In the fall of 2005, the mPire promotion ran again to coincide with the DVD release of the Star Wars movie.

In 2006, Mars offered eight new flavors of M&M's via online sales. The flavors were All That Razz; Eat, Drink, & Be Cherry; A Day at the Peach; Orange-U-Glad; Mint Condition; AlmonDeeLicious; Nut What You Think; and Cookie Minster. The first five have a white chocolate and milk chocolate center with a flavored shell. The two nut flavors have an almond or peanut center with white chocolate and candy shell. Cookie Minster has a crispy center with dark chocolate and a mint flavored shell. The company also released a Crispy Mint variety in Australia. Also in July 2006, the dark chocolate M&Ms reappeared in a purple package with the Green female M&M (see trivia section, below, as aphrodisiac urban legend) as the mascot. In 2006, the company also trialed white chocolate M&Ms as a tie-in with their Pirates of the Caribbean promotion.

In 2006, M&M's could be ordered and purchased online with custom phrases, replacing the traditional "M" on each M&M, excluding the Special Edition Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean designs. Released around Christmas, these phrase M&M's were meant for holiday greetings. Also, the M&M's could be chosen from 17 custom colours.

[edit] Advertising

M&M Vending Machine
M&M Vending Machine
M&M World store
M&M World store
  • One of the commercials for the "Help the M&Ms Find their Colors" contest used elements from The Wizard of Oz, with someone impersonating Judy Garland's voice, with her mouth timed almost exactly to her lines.
  • In 1997, Mars began a "Find the Gray Imposter M&M game" in which a customer that found a gray M&M in his or her package would be offered a cash prize of one million dollars (five hundred thousand pounds in the UK). Attorney Aron Robinson filed suit against the corporation, charging that the game confused customers who found uncoated candies that looked gray. The suit was dismissed.[4]
  • In late 2004, custom-printed M&M's were introduced. Customers are allowed to choose two lines of 8 characters per line and up to two different phrases that will be placed on separate M&M's. Up to two colors can be chosen mixed in the bag, and customers must order a minimum of 4 bags. The two phrases are randomly mixed between the two colors, leaving you with up to 4 different variations per bag.
  • In August 2006, M&M's launched an advertising campaign offering 2 million of their new dark chocolate candies for the return of Edvard Munch's 1893 painting The Scream.[5] The painting was recovered shortly after, though no connection between the campaign and the recovery has been made.[6]
  • The Australian television talk show Rove Live for a long time, always had a bowl of M&M's present on stage for the leisure of interviewed guests. Guests often comment on this and sometimes throw M&M's into the crowd.
  • The characters Red and Yellow have also starred in their own video game "M&M's Shell Shocked" which was released for the PlayStation console by budget publisher JoWooD.

[edit] Trivia

You can write your own messages on white M&M's.
You can write your own messages on white M&M's.
  • The letter "m" on each candy is a vegetable dye printed using a process similar to offset printing.[7]
  • The Orange M&M character seen in the U.S. was first introduced through a commercial featuring him as a Boy Scout to promote the new Peanut Butter M&Ms. He was then later changed to be the official Crispy M&M and female Green M&M was put as the official Peanut Butter M&M.
  • Mars changed the name of the "Plain" brand M&M's to "Milk Chocolate" M&M's in 2000, but there was no change in the candies themselves.
  • The distinctive white "m" which appears on each candy was introduced in 1950 and was originally black.
  • An urban legend claims green M&Ms are an aphrodisiac.[8]
  • In the United States, several different seasonal and promotional M&M colors are available:
    • Black and orange are sold for Halloween
    • Red and green candies are sold the month before Christmas
    • Yellow, orange, and tan used to be sold a month or two before Thanksgiving as "autumn colors." These have been replaced by the Halloween colors, followed immediately by the Christmas colors.
    • Candies in shades of pink are sold for Valentine's day (there are also special packages of green-only M&M's)
    • Pastel colored candies (light pink, green, and blue) are sold for Easter
    • Red, white, and blue candies are sometimes sold for American Independence Day or certain promotions
    • Pink and white M&M's have been released in limited supply in connection with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
    • The 2004 animated movie Shrek 2 inspired M&M's that were green with brown speckles.
    • White chocolate M&M's were released in white, yellow, pastel skin, and blue candies in late spring 2006 as a Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest movie tie-in.
  • The original M&M's color was brown. In 1960 they introduced red, yellow, and green. In 1976 they removed red and introduced orange. Red was reintroduced in 1987. In 1995, the consumers voted on the addition of blue. [9]
  • In the early 1980s, mint M&M's were sold under the Royals name, with light green and black colors and a white crown replacing the "m" on the candies.
  • In the mid 1980's, Christmas M&M's were sold under the HOLIDAYS name, with Christmas symbols replacing the "m" on the candies.
  • M&M's with a packaging bearing the United States Presidential Seal are sometimes given to visitors of the White House. It is illegal in the United States to sell these or any other item bearing the seal.
  • M&M's played a part in the 1997 Rowan Atkinson comedy movie Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie. In return, a Mr Bean promotion was run with the product, including a commercial and a competition to win a Mr Bean mini replica.
  • Despite the common usage, official Mars Incorporated literature never refers to a single piece of candy as an "M&M." Not only is it grammatically incorrect (as the name refers to the possessive of the candy's creators instead of the plural), but the company doesn't want its product referred to generically, possibly creating a genericized trademark. Within the advertising industry, an individual M&M's candy is referred to using the manufacturer's term for its shape, "a lentil".
  • Donny Johnson, an inmate serving a life sentence at Pelican Bay State Prison, California, uses the M&M's paint pigments to create art.
  • The hard rock band Van Halen's now-infamous contract rider called for, among other things, a bowl of M&M's backstage, but with provision that all the brown candies must be removed. In one rumored incident, someone had not removed the brown M&M's, and David Lee Roth trashed the dressing room. The M&M's provision was included in Van Halen's contracts not because the band disliked the candy, but because it served a practical purpose: if brown M&Ms were found backstage, then it was probable that other much more important technical aspects of the rider had also not been fulfilled properly.
  • On Allan Sherman's album My Son, the Nut, at the end of the song I See Bones (a parody of "C'est si bon"), Sherman speaks about one item found in the X-ray..."You see those little round things? ...You know what those are? ... Those are M&M's! [audience laughs] Those people are right--they don't melt!"
  • The American punk rock band blink-182 released a song entitled "M&M's" on the album Cheshire Cat.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ M&M History
  2. ^ http://money.cnn.com/2002/06/20/news/companies/mandms/
  3. ^ http://www.itvx.com/SpecialReport.asp
  4. ^ http://promomagazine.com/news/marketing_classaction_suits_mcd/
  5. ^ "The lighter side of dark M&M's", CNN Money, August 29, 2006.
  6. ^ "'The Scream' recovered ... was it the candy?", CNN Money, August 31, 2006.
  7. ^ Cecil Adams, "How do they get the M's on M&M's?", The Straight Dope, August 5, 1988 (accessed February 11, 2007).
  8. ^ http://www.snopes.com/risque/aphrodisiacs/mandms.asp
  9. ^ http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.m%2Dms.com/us/about/history/index.jsp

The Word Origin Calendar (June 19, 2006), Accord Publishing, Denver, CO.


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