M&M's are truly a delicious candy staple.
But where did the idea for them come from, and how have they become so popular?
We decided to dig deep to discover everything there is to know about these delicious chocolate
treats.
What are you doing?"
"You said to tell our fans Crispy M&M's are back."
"Not those fans!"
"Did you mean this fan?"
"No."
"What about that one?"
"Ugh."
"There's a fan in the break room."
For many people, M&M's are a reliable part of many of life's celebrations.
Whenever there's a birthday or Halloween celebration coming up, that's the perfect time to put
out some M&M's in a bowl.
And that's all due to the longevity of the brand.
M&M's were first introduced in the United States in 1941 by Forrest E. Mars in Newark,
New Jersey.
But the inspiration goes back even farther than that.
Forrest's father Frank C. Mars founded a candy business in Washington state in 1911, and
then he groomed his son to take on the job years later.
As it turns out, Forrest wasn't too fond of how his father had been running his company,
and he had a new candy idea of his own.
So he sought out a business partner who might dive in on a joint venture of making little
candy-coated chocolates.
Forrest Mars eventually paired up with Bruce Murrie, the son of William Murrie, who was
president of Hershey's at the time.
In the early 40s, the duo began making M&M's using Hershey's chocolate under their new
company, Mars & Murrie.
Mars ended up buying out Murrie entirely, taking Hershey's chocolate out of the picture,
thus forming the company that makes M&M's, as well as Twix, Snickers, and more.
Although Mars and Murrie began making M&M's in the 40s, their chocolate treats weren't
actually distributed far and wide immediately.
Mars had been inspired by soldiers he'd seen eating candy-coated chocolates in England
during the Spanish Civil War.
He moved back to the United States in hopes of replicating a candy-coated chocolate snack
that wouldn't melt in the hands or pockets of soldiers.
A patent was granted for Mars to begin the manufacturing process, and he then started
creating the candies.
The coated treats were packaged in a cardboard tube for easy transport and storage.
As the U.S. entered World War II, Mars sold his M&M's exclusively to the military to be
included in soldier rations.
It wasn't until the war ended that M&M's became available to the general public.
A lot's changed in the decades since M&M's first arrived on the market.
The original colors were brown, red, orange, yellow, green, and violet, and the concept
was simple: a little round of chocolate with a candy-coated shell.
But since then, that chocolate filling has morphed into so much more.
In 1949, tan replaced violet, and then in 1995, blue ended up replacing tan.
Peanut M&M's debuted in 1954 as little tan candy pellets, only to later use the same
colors as Original M&M's.
Original and Peanut were the only two varieties on the market for quite some time, until Peanut
Butter M&M's debuted in 1989.
Since then, more and more flavors have followed with the introduction of pretzel, mint, caramel,
white chocolate, and more.
There's even hot cocoa M&M's, for those of you who want your candy to evoke a cozy Christmas
morning.
If you've ever stumbled upon Nestlé's Smarties, you may have realized they have quite a bit
in common with M&M's.
Typically, Smarties are found only in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Australia.
They've been around since 1937, a few years before M&Ms hit the scene.
Both M&Ms and Smarties are produced in round disk shapes with bright, bold colors.
And, as the famous slogan goes, neither candy will melt in your hands.
But Forrest Mars didn't want there to be any confusion between his product and any others.
He sought a solution so that loyal customers could be sure they were eating real M&M's,
rather than a different brand.
Thus, in 1950, each M&M began to receive a stamped 'm.'
The stamp color was originally black, but it switched to white in 1954, and it's stuck
with the candy ever since.
The red M&M is a favorite of many candy fiends, not to mention it's front and center on many
of the package designs.
But it hasn't always been that way.
While red was one of the original M&M's, Mars halted the color's production in 1976 all
thanks to the synthetic dye Red Number 2.
A Russian study in 1971 linked the dye to cancer, causing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
to dig into it a little deeper.
The results didn't prove much when it came to human consumption, but because of its effects
on rats, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the dye.
Oddly enough, though, M&M's were never actually produced with Red Number 2.
But Mars nevertheless thought it would be best to avoid any confusion and pull all red
M&M's from production.
The company introduced orange as a replacement at the time, but eventually the red M&M we
all know and love came back in 1987 and has stuck with its pal yellow ever since.
When it comes to Halloween, it's all about the candy, and the total annual amount purchased
for the spooky holiday is astounding.
In 2019 alone, the National Retail Federation estimated that $2.6 billion would be spent
on Halloween candy, and M&M's make up a huge portion of that.
"93% of American children go trick-or-treating, and half of them say they want chocolate.
So, bring on the M&M's."
According to CandyStore.com, M&M's rank third in the United States on the Halloween popularity
scale.
That means that thousands of pounds of M&M's are being purchased and handed out to trick-or-treaters
annually.
So how can a company prepare for that?
Thankfully, Mars has its plan down pat.
The company invests two years into prepping for Halloween.
Employees are tasked with polling customers to see what they'd like for the holiday, recipes
are tested, and then the marketing department gets to work to figure out packaging and displays
that will really sell.
Orders are placed months ahead of the holiday, with display plans in place, to be sure that
the mutually beneficial relationships between the candy company and its retailers are everything
that they can be.
Considering how small each individual M&M is, they're the perfect snack to enjoy, or
enjoy a little bit too much as each one quickly disappears from the bag.
With so many people out there who love these little candy-coated chocolates, there are
a whole lot of M&M's produced and sold.
In 2013, CNN posted a video of a tour through the M&M's factory in Hackettsville, New Jersey,
where close to 2 million M&M's are made every eight hours.
That's a ton of little chocolate treats.
And that's not the only factory producing these candies.
As of 2018, the M&M factory in Cleveland, Tennessee, was making 300 million M&M's every
single day.
And with that, 40 truckloads each day were leaving the factory to bring the product to
stores across the United States.
It takes a lot of volume and a lot of work to keep all the chocoholics satisfied.
"M&M's are definitely a part of American culture, and currently, they're in everything from
the Academy Awards to New Year's Eve celebrations."
The M&M's characters have been around since 1995, showing up in commercials and other
ads on a regular basis.
Around the mid-90s, the candy brand's popularity was starting to flatline, so Mars worked with
a marketing agency to take M&M's to a new level.
And thus the talking candy stars were born.
Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green all debuted at that time, with Red, Yellow, and Blue taking
on male characters.
And while they certainly have their own appeal, there's always been something unique about
Green that has stood out among the rest.
Green was made to be a bit of a seductress, with her long lashes, pouty lips, and white
go-go boots.
Many have speculated that her persona was based on rumors in the 70s that green M&M's
were an aphrodisiac.
When Green debuted, M&M's used the rumors to their advantage in ad campaigns, even utilizing
the phrase,
"Is it true what they say about the green ones?"
"You make mama proud."
Green has won over the hearts of M&M's lovers for years.
But in 2012, her status as the only female M&M all changed.
During that year's Super Bowl, Mars debuted Brown, showcasing her to more than 110 million
viewers.
M&M's hadn't run an ad during the big game for three years prior, so this was obviously
meant to be a big deal.
As was the case with all the other M&M characters, Brown's addition came in a little package
with a whole lot of personality.
She was introduced as the "Chief Chocolate Officer" finally revealing herself after years
spent behind the scenes.
Vanessa Williams, the voice behind Brown, told Huffington Post,
"Ms. Brown is definitely the brains behind it all.
She's the one who introduced all of the other colored candies."
"I'm giving away money to make people like me is what he said, and I was like, 'You watch
your mouth.
She's my friend!'"
"Friend is a strong word."
Let's face it, M&M's are pretty difficult to eat in moderation.
Opening a bag and not eating the whole thing is pretty much unheard of.
But apparently Mars wants its customers to keep an eye on how much sugar they're consuming,
even if it means fewer M&M sales.
When the U.S. Department of Health released its 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines, it noted
a recommendation for Americans to limit their daily added sugar intake to no more than 10
percent of their overall caloric consumption for the day.
Mars issued a statement in support saying that limited added sugar consumption would
benefit all Mars consumers.
Dave Crean, head of research and development at Mars at the time, said,
"We want people to enjoy Mars brands as part of a well-balanced diet."
A typical pack of M&M's weighs in with 29 grams of added sugar, or 58 percent of the
daily value, so it's certainly over the recommended limit if you're eating the whole pack.
So maybe you're not actually supposed to eat the entire bag in one sitting.
Kim Kardashian gets plenty of attention for the things she posts on social media, including
her makeup techniques, workout routines, and skillfully composed selfies.
But what about the way she eats M&M's?
In November 2019, the reality star shared on Instagram Stories and Twitter how she prefers
to eat her candy, and her followers went wild.
As she put it,
"Fun fact about me is I take M&M's and I heat them up in the microwave for 20 seconds so
that inside they're hot and the chocolate is melty."
This was apparently her "secret of life," and it's sparked a fair degree of intrigue
and debate.
Even Today Show hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager tried them out to see what all
the fuss was about.
"Oh my God."
"Kim is right."
"Wait.
Mmm."
"Kim is right."
The jury's still out on whether it's truly life-changing or not, but this is certainly
a new and exciting way to try these longtime beloved confections.
If you've ever thought it would be cool to have your face printed on an M&M, well, we've
got some good news for you, as it turns out that you can order them and have them shipped
right to your door.
Mars' former research and development director Dan Michael came up with the idea, which allows
people to quite literally order anything they want on their M&M's.
Michael worked on the project for about six years before it came to fruition, launching
an entirely new factory called The Print Shop to be able to produce the custom orders.
M&M's lovers can now order just about anything they want printed on their candy in any color.
The M&M's shop offers 24 different colors to choose from, as well as the ability to
add text, graphic images, or even custom images.
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