With the variety of colors to choose from and a variety options of flavor choices, certainly there’s a M&M’s bag to suit every person. It’s certain that everyone has tasted these candy-coated delights at one time during their lifetime. Perhaps, at most, you’ve been exposed to Red yellow and blue M&M’s on the television.
M&M’s have experienced everything with us. From baking them into cookies, to putting M&M’s as a dessert plate at a wedding reception, to eating them in a handful during a hike M&M’s are a traditional candy for the long haul. How long has M&M’s been in existence? What was the source of inspiration for M&M’s originate and, more importantly, why do they have become so popular in the past? We decided to look deeper into this candy’s history to learn everything we can about these tasty chocolate confections. This is the truth of M&M’s.
M&M’s have been around for a long time
For many, M&M’s have been a staple of most of the celebrations of life. Birthdays? Check. Halloween? Check. This is all thanks to the long-lasting brand. M&M’s were introduced to the U.S. by Forrest E. Mars in Newark, New Jersey in 1941. But the idea for the product goes deeper than that.
Frank C. Mars had established a candy company located in Washington State in the year 1911 and then he prepared the son of his business, Forrest for taking over the business a few some years after. In the end, Forrest was not too happy with the way his father was operating his Washington candy company. And He had a fresh concept for a candy. He sought the right business partner to join in an idea of joint venture creating candy-coated chocolates.
Forrest Mars eventually paired up with Bruce Murrie, the son of William Murrie, president of Hershey’s at the time. The pair began producing M&M’s with Hershey’s chocolate in the start of 1940s, under their business, Mars & Murrie. Mars eventually bought out Murrie completely and removing Hershey’s chocolate of the equation and forming the company that manufactures M&M’s Twix, Snickers and other.
M&M’s weren’t readily available to the general public until they were first made available
While Mars and Murrie started making M&M’s around about the time of their 1940s debut candy-coated chocolates were not sold out to the masses immediately. As per History, Mars had been in the footsteps of soldiers he witnessed eating candy-coated chocolates England throughout the Spanish Civil War, and after that, he returned in America. United States in hopes of creating a candy-coated chocolate treat that didn’t melt in the pockets or hands of soldiers.
A patent was granted to Mars to begin the production process, and then he began creating the sweets. The coated candies were packed in a cardboard tube to allow for convenient storage and transport, and, as it became clear that the U.S. entered World War II, Mars sold his M&M’s only to military personnel as part of soldiers’ food rations. It wasn’t until after the war ended that M&M’s began to be widely available to the people, and Mars introduced the brown paper packaging in 1948. It’s the one is still on sale.
The flavors and colors of M&Ms UK have grown like mad
There has been a lot of change in the years since M&M’s first was introduced to the market. The first colors launched were red, brown as well as green, yellow and violet. The idea was straightforward: a tiny round of chocolate that was encased in candy-coated shell. However, since then the chocolate filling has evolved into a variety of other colors. Since 1949, the color tan was replaced by violet. Then the year 1995 saw blue began replacing the tan. Peanut M&M’s, which debuted on the market in 1954 also underwent changes in color. As per Mental Floss the Peanut M&M’s were first introduced as little candy balls that were tan and later, they were rebranded with the same colors as Original M&M’s.
The original M&M’s as well as Peanut M&M’s weren’t the sole varieties that were available for quite long time, up before Peanut Butter M&M’s were introduced in 1989. Since then, many new flavors have been added and included pretzels and caramel, mint hazelnut, and other. There are hot cocoa M&M’s too.
The’m’ stamp on every M&M candy served an exact purpose
If you’ve ever come across Nestle’s Smarties You may have discovered they share some similarities with M&M’s. They are typically available within countries like the UK, Canada, Germany and Australia However, they’ve been in existence since 1937 — just a couple of years prior to when M&Ms made their debut.
There are definitely certain similarities between Smarties and M&M’s with other candy-coated chocolate confections. Both varieties are available in disk-shaped disks that are round and have vibrant, vivid colors. As for their claims to not being famous is, neither Smarties or M&M’s will melt when you hold them. However, Mars wanted there not to be confusion about his products compared to other brands.
In the M&M’s History, Mars wanted a solution to ensure that its loyal customers could be assured they were eating genuine M&M’s instead of an alternative brand. Therefore, every M&M was first given the letter’m’ on the candy in 1950. Based on Mental Floss, the stamp initial color was black but changed to white in 1954. The stamp has remained for the M&Ms ever since. The company came up with a slogan that stated, “Look for the m on every candy.”
The red M&M’S were on hiatus for a few minutes
Red M&M has become a beloved for many, in addition to being the front and center of most of the packaging designs. However, it wasn’t always that in the past.
Although M&M’s first launched in red as its initial color palette, the company stopped the manufacturing of the red M&M’s in the year 1976 due to synthetic dyes: Red No. 2. A Russian study from 1971 proved the food coloring red with cancer. This led to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate the popular dye more deeply.
Based on Live Science, the results did not prove anything regarding human consumption, but due to the effects it has on rats, the FDA prohibited it. It’s funny that M&M’s were not actually made using Red No.2, but the company believed it was the best to steer clear of confusion, and thus removed all M&M’s with red in them from production. Mars introduced orange in the early days as a substitute however, eventually the red M&M that we recognize and cherish was introduced in 1987, and has remained with its yellow counterpart ever since.
M&M’s rocketed to space
There are only a few companies, or people in general, who are able to claim they went to space. M&M’s is among them, and the brand has been bragging about it for a long time.
According to the M&M’s story candy coated chocolates were actually the very first chocolate to be selected for space travel in the year 1981. M&M’s were selected by the very first space shuttle astronauts and were added to their food source.
Their presence has remained for a long time. Based on Smithsonian Magazine, M&M’s is quite commonplace in NASA’s space programs right now due to their easy packaging and their ease of consumption. But, M&M’s been used for a different purpose by astronauts throughout the years too: pure entertainment. As per Smithsonian Magazine, M&M’s are often released in a handful which allows the bits to flounder across space. The aim is for astronauts to catch them using their mouths to make an fun snack.
Halloween is a long preparation for M&Ms
When Halloween rolls around at home in the U.S., it’s all about the candy. The amount of candy bought to celebrate the holiday is staggering. In 2019 according to it is estimated that the National Retail Federation estimated $2.6 billion will be spent on Halloween-themed candy, and M&M’s makes the biggest part of the total. According to CandyStore.com M&M’s ranks at third place in U.S. on the Halloween popularity scale in the Halloween category, with Skittles as well as Reese’s Cups just ahead of the latter, which implies that thousands of pounds of M&M’s are bought and distributed to children who are trick or treating each year.
How can a business prepare? Luckily, Mars has their strategy to a T. Based on CNN Business, Mars actually invests two years in preparation for Halloween. They have employees surveying customers to find out what they’d like to get for the season, recipes are developed, and the marketing department begins to think about the packaging and displays that actually bring in customers. Orders are made months ahead of the holidays, with display plans already in place to ensure the beneficial relationship between the candy manufacturer and its retail partners are as strong as they could be.
There’s an inordinate quantity of M&M’s manufactured and sold
Do you remember opening a M&M’s bag and ate handfuls of them, and then realized that they’re gone. It’s not uncommon. Since M&M’s are tiny and sweet, they’re a great snack to indulge in (or indulge in a bit too excessively) and with the many people who love the candy-coated chocolates, you can find many M&M’s that are produced and sold.
As per CNN Money, after taking an excursion through the M&M’s manufacturing facility located in Hackettsville, New Jersey, about 2 million M&M’s will be produced every hour. This is quite a large amount of M&Ms. However, that’s not the only manufacturer that produces these sweets.
As of the year 2018 the factory located in Cleveland, Tennessee was making 300 million M&M’s per day in the plant. In addition the production of 40 truckloads per day left the factory to deliver the candy to retailers all across the U.S.
Mars once created a huge M&M’s cow
There are many things you can create using M&M’s. M&M’s can be added into cookies in place or in place of chips made from chocolate, added into cakes to add an extra splash of color to the middle, or used as a topping on cupcakes, pies or desserts. However, Mars decided to be really inventive and used M&M’s create an animal.
In 1990, marketing team at M&M came up with an idea by launching a gigantic fiberglass cow adorned with M&M’s. The cow contained 66,000 M&M’s, which were all put in by hand, with the M&M logo facing the outside. “Candy,” the cow was introduced at the NY State’s Erie County Fair as part of a milk chocolate marketing campaign. Candy immediately gained popularity. The fair’s visitors would stand in line for 30 minutes to get a glimpse of the gigantic candy cow. It was the most sought-after exhibit at the fair in that year, not forgetting the media exposure gained from the cow’s appearance on Newsweek and making a splash in”Live” with Regis and Kathie Lee.
The Green M&M’s character has rather bold name
They’ve been seen since 1995, appearing in commercials and advertisements frequently. However, that popularity wasn’t always the case. In the words of Business Insider, the candy brand’s popularity began to decline, and Mars collaborated with a marketing firm to elevate its brand up to higher level. The stars were born. Red, Yellow, Blue and Green all came out at that time with Red, Yellow, and Blue adopting different male characters. While the male M&M’s are certainly fun and each has their own unique appeal but there’s an element of Green that has been loved by people the most.
Green was thought to be somewhat of a seductress, thanks to her long lashes, pouty lips and white boots. Many have speculated that her image was due to the rumor in the 1970s that M&M’s in green were aphrodisiacs. When Green was introduced, M&M’s leveraged the rumors and created a personality for the character of M&M’s, even using the expression “Is the truth in that they are aphrodisiacs for M&M’s that are green?”
The second M&M’s female character was introduced several years later.
Green has been a part of the affections of M&M’s fans for a long time, going from her first appearance in 1995. At the time she was the sole female M&M’s personality, in a crowd of male M&M’s. However, in 2012, was all changed. Mars made use of this year’s Super Bowl to make Brown’s debut, presenting Brown’s talents to over 110 million people. According to Time the 30-second commercial cost an on average $3.5 millions during the Superbowl however, M&M’s had not ran an advertisement for the previous three seasons prior to Brown making headlines.
As the company has done with all of its M&M’s personalities Brown’s appearance came in the form of a small package that had an array of personalities. Based on HuffPost, Brown debuted as the “Chief Chocolate Officer” finally making herself known after years of being in the shadows. Vanessa Williams, the voice behind Brown spoke to HuffPost the following “Ms. Brown is definitely the brain behind everything. She was the one who invented all the other candy colors.”
M&M’s have a lot of sugar
There’s no doubt that M&M’s can be quite difficult to consume in moderate amounts. The idea of opening a bag without eating it all is practically impossible. However, it seems that Mars would like their customers to pay attention to how much sugar they’re eating regardless of the fact that it results in lower profits for the M&M’s.
In the year that the U.S. Department of Health issued its Dietary Guidelines for 2015-2020 the guidelines included an advice for Americans to restrict the amount of added sugar they consume daily to not exceeding 10 percent of their total caloric intake during the day. As per CNN, Mars issued a statement that affirmed that a reduction in added sugar intake will be beneficial to everyone Mars customers as well as better educating consumers with added labelling. Dave Crean, head of research and development at Mars at the time, said, “We want people to take pleasure in Mars brands as part of a balanced diet.”
A typical M&M’s pack actually has 29 grams of sugar added and more than 58 percent of the daily value It’s definitely over the recommended limit when eating the entire pack. Maybe Mars isn’t expecting a customer to consume the entire packet in one sitting?
You can create a totally customized version of M&M’s
If you’ve ever considered it would be cool to get your picture imprinted on M&M Well, now you can do it -and you can even order M&Ms and have them shipped directly to your doorstep. Dan Michael, previous R&D Director at Mars created this idea, and then worked on all the wrinkles, allowing customers to buy anything they want on M&M’s.
In an interview conducted by Atlas Obscura, Michael worked on the idea for around six years prior to it coming to fruition. He launched the brand new facility called The Print Shop to be capable of making custom M&M’s requests. Today, M&M’s fans can purchase whatever they’d like to print on the candy in any shade. The shop of M&M’s provides 24 different colors to pick from, along with the option of adding graphics, text or upload a customized image.