With the variety of colors to choose from as well as a myriad options of flavor choices, certainly there’s an M&M’s pack to suit anyone. It’s certain that everyone has tasted these candy-coated treats at some time during their lifetime. Perhaps, at most, you’ve been exposed by the Red yellow and blue M&M’s on the TV.
M&M’s have experienced everything with us. From baking them into cookies, to placing M&M’s on a dessert table at a wedding reception, to eating them in a handful while hiking M&M’s are an absolute classic candy that has been around for a long time. However, how many years have they been in existence? What was the source of inspiration for M&M’s originated and how did they become so famous in the past? We decided to look deeper into this candy’s history to learn everything we can about these tasty chocolate-covered treats. The untold story of M&M’s.
M&M’s are around for decades
For many, M&Ms UK 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 first introduction was in the U.S. by Forrest E. Mars in Newark, New Jersey in 1941. But the idea for the product goes far back than that.
Frank C. Mars had started a candy business located in Washington State in the year 1911 and then he prepared for his son 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 business, and He had a fresh concept for a candy. He sought an investor who could take on 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 the 1940s under their brand new firm, Mars & Murrie. Mars was eventually able to buy Murrie completely and took Hershey’s chocolate out of the picture , and creating the company that manufactures M&M’s Twix, Snickers and many more.
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 widely distributed immediately. As per History, Mars had been in the footsteps of soldiers he observed eating candy-coated chocolates in England in the Spanish Civil War, and returned in America. United States in hopes of making a candy-coated chocolate confection 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 candy coated with coating was packaged inside a cardboard box for ease of transport and storage and when it became clear that the U.S. entered World War II, Mars sold his M&M’s to only the military as part of soldiers’ diets. It wasn’t until after the war ended that M&M’s began to be accessible to the general public. Mars introduced the brown paper packaging design in 1948, which is still on sale.
The flavors and colors of M&M’s have grown like mad
Many things have changed over the years since M&M’s first launched. The initial colors were red, brown and green. They also had yellow, green and violet. The idea was straightforward — a small round of chocolate in an edible shell. However, since then the chocolate filling has changed into many other flavors. The year 1949 saw tan took over violet. Then the year 1995 saw blue began replacing the color tan. Peanut M&M’s, which debuted on the market in 1954 also underwent an alteration in color. As per Mental Floss the Peanut M&M’s first appeared as little candy balls that were tan but later reverted to the same colors as Original M&M’s.
The original M&M’s as well as Peanut M&M’s were two of the few varieties available for long time, up before Peanut Butter M&M’s came out in 1989. Since then, many new flavors have been added by introducing pretzels caramel, mint hazelnut, caramel, and many more. There are hot cocoa M&M’s too.
The’m’ stamp on every M&M candy was intended for specific reasons
If you’ve ever come across Nestle’s Smarties You may have discovered they share many similarities with M&M’s. They are typically available throughout countries like the UK, Canada, Germany as well as Australia However, they’ve been in existence since 1937 — just a couple of years prior to when M&Ms were introduced to the market.
There are certainly certain similarities between Smarties and M&M’s, as well with other candy-coated chocolate confections. Both varieties are available in disk-shaped, round shapes with vibrant, vivid colors. As for their claims to not being famous is that neither Smarties or M&M’s melt when you hold them. However, Mars did not want there to be any confusion among his products compared to other brands.
Based on the M&M’s History, Mars wanted a solution that would ensure loyal customers could be assured that they were eating real M&M’s and not another brand. Therefore, every M&M started to get an’m’ engraved 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. In the early days, the company had a slogan which stated, “Look for the m on every candy.”
The red M&M’S were on hiatus for a few minutes
A red M&M has become a beloved for many, in addition to being prominently displayed on most of the packaging designs. However, it wasn’t always that the way it is now.
Although M&M’s first launched in red as its initial color palette, M&M’s stopped 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, prompting authorities at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate the dye that is commonly used to a greater extent.
Based on Live Science, the results were not convincing regarding human consumption, but due to its adverse effects on rats the FDA prohibited it. It’s funny that M&M’s were never made with Red No.2, but the company decided it was better to stay clear of any confusion, and thus removed all M&M’s with red in them from production. Mars introduced orange in the early days as a substitute but, in the end the red M&M that we recognize and cherish was introduced in 1987 and has been with the yellow color since then.
M&M’s ventured into space
There are only a few companies, or people to be exact, who can boast that they have made it to space. M&M’s is just one of them, and the brand has been boasting about it for a long time.
According to the history of M&M candy coated chocolates were actually the very first chocolate to be selected to be sent to space in the year 1981. M&M’s were picked by the first spaceship astronauts, and they were then added to their food source.
However, 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 also: entertainment. In the words of Smithsonian Magazine, M&M’s are often released by the handfuls which allows the bits to drift across space. The aim is for astronauts to grab them with their mouths and enjoy an enjoyable snack.
Halloween requires a lot of preparation for M&Ms
When Halloween rolls around here in the U.S., it’s all about the candy. The quantity of candy that is purchased to celebrate the holiday is staggering. For 2019 it is estimated that there was the National Retail Federation estimated $2.6 billion will be spent on Halloween-themed Candy, and M&M’s make the biggest percentage of this. According to CandyStore.com M&M’s are ranked at third place in U.S. on the Halloween popularity scale and are followed by Skittles as well as Reese’s Cups just ahead of the latter, which implies that thousands of pounds of M&M’s will be purchased and given out to children who are trick or treating every year.
So how can companies prepare for this? Luckily, Mars has their strategy and mastered. As per CNN Business, Mars actually invests two years in preparation for Halloween. The employees are charged with asking customers what they’d like to get for the season, recipes are developed, and the marketing department begins to think about display and packaging that will be able to attract customers. Orders are placed months in advance of the time, and 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 a huge number of M&M’s produced and sold
Did you open a packet of M&M’s and eaten them in a handful and then realized that they’re gone. It’s not unusual. Because M&M’s are small and nimble, they’re the perfect snack to indulge in (or take a little too often) and with the many people who love the candy-coated chocolates, there’s many M&M’s being produced and sold.
In the words of CNN Money, after taking an inside tour of the M&M’s manufacturing facility located in Hackettsville, New Jersey, around 2 million M&M’s will be produced every hour. This is a lot of M&Ms. However, that’s not the only manufacturer that produces these sweets.
As of the year 2018 the plant located in Cleveland, Tennessee was making 300 million M&M’s each day in the plant. Along with that 40 truckloads of M&M’s per day left the factory in order to transport the products to stores all across the U.S.
Mars once created a huge M&M’s cow
There are many things you can do 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 provide an extra splash of color to the middle, or used as a topping on cupcakes, pies or the sundae. However, Mars decided to get inventive and used M&M’s create an animal.
In 1990, marketing department at M&M got creative and launched a massive fiberglass cow adorned with M&M’s. The cow was adorned with 66,000 M&M’s that were put in by hand, with the logo of the’m’ in the direction of the sun. “Candy,” the cow made her debut at NY State’s Erie County Fair as part of a milk chocolate marketing campaign. Candy quickly gained a lot of attention. People who attended the fair had to stand in line for 30 minutes just to view the huge candy cow. It was the most-loved event at the fair in that year, not forgetting the media exposure gained from the cow’s appearance on Newsweek and also a guest appearance live on the show the show Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.
The Green M&M’s brand has a quite a bold image
These characters from M&M have been in the news since 1995, appearing in commercials and ads regularly. However, the fame wasn’t always the case. In the words of Business Insider, the candy brand’s popularity was beginning to decline, and Mars collaborated with a marketing agency in order to take its brand up to higher level. The stars came to life. Red, Yellow, Blue and Green all came out at that time with Red, Yellow, and Blue adopting different male characters. The three male M&M’s definitely are entertaining and each has their own unique appeal There’s always an element of Green that has been loved by people the most.
Green was portrayed as an edgy seductress, thanks to her long lashes, pouty lips, as well as her white boots. Many have speculated that her image was due to the rumor in the 1970s about green M&M’s were aphrodisiacs. When Green came out, M&M’s utilized the rumors in creating a character for the character of M&M’s, even employing the phrase “Is the truth in what they claim about those with green eyes?”
The second character of M&M’s for women was introduced a few years later.
Green has captured 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 character, and was with male M&M’s. In 2012, however, everything changed. Mars made use of in the 2012 Super Bowl to make Brown’s debut, presenting Brown to more than 110 million people. According to Time the 30-second spot cost an the average $3.5 million for the Superbowl however, M&M’s had not had an advertisement in 3 years before Brown making headlines.
As the company has done with all of the M&M’s characters Brown’s appearance came in an adorable package with an array of personalities. As per HuffPost, Brown debuted as the “Chief Chocolate Officer” finally making herself known after years of being working behind the scenes. Vanessa Williams, the voice behind Brown has told HuffPost the following “Ms. Brown is definitely the brain behind all this. She was the one who invented all the other colored candy candies.”
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 not a thing. However, it seems that Mars would like their customers to pay attention to how much sugar they’re eating even if it results in lower the sales of M&M’s.
In the year that the U.S. Department of Health published its 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines the guidelines included an advice for Americans to reduce their daily intake of added sugar to not more than 10 percent of their total caloric intake during the day. In the report by CNN, Mars issued a statement that affirmed that a reduction in added sugar intake will be beneficial to everyone Mars customers and provide better information to consumers about the added information on the labels. Dave Crean, head of research and development at Mars at the time, stated, “We want people to take pleasure in Mars brands as part of a balanced diet.”
A typical M&M’s pack actually contains 29 grams of sugar added which is the equivalent of 58 percent of the daily value which is definitely above the limit recommended if you’re eating the entire pack. Maybe Mars isn’t expecting a customer to eat all of the package in one sitting?
You can create a totally customized version of M&M’s
If you’ve ever thought that it would be cool to get your picture put on M&M then you can now -and you can purchase M&Ms and have them shipped straight to your doorstep. Dan Michael, previous R&D Director at Mars was the one who came up with this idea, and then worked on all the kinks. This allows people to buy anything they want on M&M’s.
As per an interview 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 get almost everything they’d like printed on the candy in any shade. The shop of M&M’s provides 24 different colors that you can choose from, in addition to the option to add graphics, text or upload a customized image.
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