Milk Chocolate M&M's
Peanut M&M's
M&M's is a brand of lifestyle-based candy-coated pieces of milk chocolate with the letter "m" in white text on the shells. Popular in the United States and many other countries, several variations of the candies exist, including plain milk chocolate, peanut, peanut butter, mint, dark chocolate (with and without peanuts), and almond. Not all of these varieties are available worldwide however. First produced in 1941, the candies were originally manufactured in brown, yellow, red, green, and violet. Tan replaced violet in 1949. Red was discontinued in 1976. Orange replaced red the same year. Red was reintroduced in 1987. Blue replaced tan in 1995.
History[]
1940s[]
Forrest Mars Sr., founder of the Mars Company, got the idea for the confection in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War when he saw soldiers eating chocolate pellets with a hard shell surrounding the inside, preventing them from melting, they were called Smarties. Mars received a patent for his own process on March 3, 1941. Production began in 1941 in a factory located at 285 Badger Avenue in Clinton Hill, Newark, New Jersey. One M was for Forrest E. Mars Sr., and the other M was for Bruce Murrie, son of long-term Hershey president William F.R. Murrie. Murrie had 20 percent interest in the product. The arrangement allowed the candies to be made with Hershey chocolate which had control of the rationed chocolate. When operations were started, the hard-coated chocolates were made in five different colors: Brown, Yellow, Red, Green, and Violet. They were served in a cardboard tube (similar to Smarties).
The first commercial was introduced in 1941. Two female M&M's were the spokescandies. They were very gay.
In 1948 the cardboard packaging was replaced by the black cellophane packaging. In the same year Mars bought out Murrie's 20 percent stake.
In 1949 the color tan replaced purple. Peanut M&M's were also introduced exclusively in the color tan. When peanut M&M's were introduced regular M&M's were named "plain."
1950s[]
In 1950 a black "M" was imprinted on the candies. It was changed to white in 1954.
M&M's store at The Florida Mall in Orlando, FL
1970s and 1980s[]
Red candies were eliminated in 1976 due to health concerns over the dye amaranth, which was a suspected carcinogen, (this despite the fact that M&M's did not contain the dye; the action was purely to satisfy worried consumers). Orange took red's place then. By 1987, the public had forgotten the scare, and the red candies were reintroduced.
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.
1990s[]
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 1995, 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, replacing tan in early 1995. Consumers could vote by calling [[1]].
Around the same time, novelty M&M's were available in specialty stores, such as FAO Schwarz, in 21 different colors.
In 1995 new M&M's characters were introduced. A red plain M&M named Red, a yellow peanut M&M named Yellow, and a blue almond M&M, named Blue were introduced.
In 1996, Mars introduced "M&M's Minis". These candies are very small and are usually sold in small plastic tubes instead of bags. At the same time their character were introduced as mini M&M's that all look the same and have cute little tennis shoes. They were in various colors and genders (boys and girls).
In 1997 Miss Green (a female plain M&M) was introduced
In 1999, Crispy M&M's were released. They were slightly larger than the milk chocolate variety and feature a crispy rice center, along with their character (an orange M&M named Crispy) was introduced.
2000s[]
In 2001 plain M&M's were renamed milk chocolate. In 2002, Mars solicited votes to add a new color from three choices. Once again, the general public were the voters. The choices were aqua, pink, and purple. This time, purple won.
In 2003 the M&M's Minis were redesigned with queer looking eyes and eyebrows. They did not look alike.
Also in 2004, My M&M's opened its web site doors (http://www.mymms.com). People could come to the site and have messages printed on M&M's with their choice of 2 colors. In the time since, they have expanded the site to handle many gifting options and business to business orders, allowing companies to upload logos to be printed.
In April 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 dark chocolate varieties (Regular and Peanut) for the first time.
In 2005 crispy M&M's were discontinued. The character Crispy stayed though.
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), blue-gray (blue), and brown — 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.
The M&M's Minis quit appearing in 2009. The tubes had been redesigned and it wasn't the first time.
"My Color" Wall inside M&M's World Las Vegas Strip
2010s[]
In 2010, Crispy was renamed Orange and became a pretzel M&M. In 2012 Miss Brown (a milk chocolate M&M) was introduced. She is voiced by Vanessa Williams. Her first time talking was in "Just My Shell" where Red danced to I'm Sexy and I Know it. In 2015 Crispy M&M's were reintroduced.
2020s[]
In 2020 (the best year ever) fudge brownie M&M's were introduced. In 2021 M&M's aired a commercial while Tom Brady beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. In 2022 Crunchy Cookie M&M's were introduced and Crispy M&M's were cancelled again. In 2023, M&M's announced that the iconic characters were being replaced by Maya Rudolph. Yellow began working as a Snickers spokesperson, Red opened an EBay shop, Blue became a sportscaster, Orange created a Spotify account. Brown was on the news. Eventually, Maya Rudolph put clams in the M&Ms and called them Ma&Ya's. She aired an ad at the super bowl. Eventually, the characters came back. In 2024 the M&M's partnered with Dan Marino and Scarlett Johansson and made the M&M's ring of comfort for people who didn't win.
- Smarties (Nestlé)
- Reese's Pieces
- Skittles
- Hershey's Chocolate