It doesn't matter if you prefer plain or peanut, M&M's are always a fan favorite. Quite possibly
the best thing about M&M's is that they melt in your mouth and not in your hand. You knew
we had to sneak that in somewhere! So on that note, here are the Top 10 Untold Truths Of
M&M's.
M&M Is The Initials Of Two Men
How many times have you opened a pack of M&M's with friends and had a debate on what those
two letters mean? And no, to any younger viewers out there M&M's aren't paying homage to the
rapper. He became famous long after M&M's were introduced to the world. Let's be honest
and say that it's difficult to focus on the meaning behind the name when M&M's are as
delicious as they are. All you can think about is shovelling as many of those sweet little
candies in your mouth as possible. You can't eat just one M&M at a time. But to answer
the age-old question, M&M stands for Mars and Murrie. Mars comes from Forrest Mars,
son of Mars candy founder Frank Mars. While Murrie comes from Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey's
president William Murrie. The two developed the hard candy shell with chocolate in the
middle, thus M&M's, short for Mars & Murrie. Mars Sr. had seen soldiers eating small candy-coated
chocolates called Smarties during the Spanish Civil war and thought there could be a market
for them if he could improve them. However, because of the impending war, Mars suspected
that a chocolate shortage was sure to follow, so he needed help, and plenty of chocolate,
from the Hershey company. Thus a partnership and chocolate candy were born.
M&M's Weren't Always Sold In A Bag
What would M&M's be like without the bag? The bag makes buying M&M's convenient. You
can twist the bag, seal it and save your M&M's for later. Although, most of you probably
don't do that unless you buy a huge bag. Those regular size bags of M&M's are just big enough
to inhale. But there may be situations, like while driving, that you have to put the bag
down and attend to more important things like getting gas. It's during those situations
that being able to twist the top closed and toss them in your pocket make you glad M&M's
come in a bag. M&M's were actually first sold in a tube. Imagine pouring yourself a
handful of M&M's from a tube. How much fun does that sound? The good folks over at M&M's
found a better way to package their product. You can still find M&M's in specialty tubes
during the holiday season. Though the tubes M&M's were sold in back in the day weren't
like those. The tube would've made it fun to share your M&M's with your friends and
family but let's be honest, something this good doesn't get shared very often.
Peanut M&M's Came Along Later On
The debate over peanut versus plain milk chocolate M&M's continues to rage on to this day. You
can't find anyone who doesn't have an opinion on the matter. Some won't eat one over the
other. Are you the type who loves peanut and therefore won't go anywhere near plain M&M's?
Some of you might think that anything other than pure chocolate M&M's is a blasphemy.
This is a debate that goes deeper than Coke versus Pepsi. Entire households have been
known to be divided over some family members choosing plain over peanut. However, it wasn't
until the 1950s that the peanut M&M was introduced. That's about a decade after M&M's first came
out. Why did it take so long? The good folks over at Mars likely had the same debate that's
been held in many households around the world. Broken hearts probably never healed after
the introduction of peanut M&M's. They were right and the public was never the same again.
Sometimes this sort of tension helps humanity as a whole. The public seemed to agree that
the world was better off with more varieties of M&M's than only one. Now, of course, there
are many different types and flavors of M&M's, but the debate for the best flavor may never
end.
The People Chose A New Color For M&M's
Back in the 1990s, Mars decided it was time to have a new color of M&M's. As anyone could
imagine, the public was in a frenzy of excitement. The public was allowed to vote which new color
they wanted. The choice was between pink, purple, and blue. As anyone could imagine,
such a difficult decision had to weigh heavily on the voters. How many people regretted their
vote immediately after casting it? If you think it's hard to vote for the right politician,
then you should try voting for a new color of M&M. The burden was almost too much to
bear for many people. The public overwhelmingly chose blue as the next color of M&M's. A whopping
54% voted for blue. It's clear that pink and purple were not the choices of the people.
Red M&M's were gone for almost a decade
Back in the 1970s, a Russian scientist found that red food dye was a carcinogen. Red No.
2 contained something called amaranth in it, and that was a cancer causing agent. M&M's
had a red color in their delicious bags of candy, but it contained no amaranth whatsoever.
However, to calm the public's nerves and to stop everyone from boycotting red foods, the
makers of M&M's decided to pull the red candies and replace them with orange. They didn't
want anyone to think that it was possible to get cancer by eating their tasty treats.
It was a big concern at the time, and many food products containing red dye were pulled
off of the shelf. If you were a lover of the color red, it was a sad time for you. A campaign
was waged on behalf of all of those who missed their red M&M's. Yes, those people never forgot
the color of the candy coating shell they love so much. It wasn't until the late 1980's
that the color red was reintroduced to the public. As one could imagine, everyone was
ecstatic to have their beloved red M&M's back. As an added bonus, Mars decided to keep the
orange M&M's as well. That's a good thing since it took around ten years to bring back
the red ones. Who knows how much of a fight it would've been to bring back the orange.
M&M's Are A Favorite Snack Of Astronauts
Astronauts don't leave their earthly sweet tooth's behind when traveling into the great
beyond. As you can imagine, anything with plenty of crumbs would be hazardous in space.
Just think about what cookie crumbs do to your lap after scarfing down a sweet treat.
All of those crumbs can wreak havoc on the sensitive equipment that is needed to maintain
safe living conditions in space. That's one of the many reasons why M&M's are eaten by
so many in space. Also, it has to be pretty fun to munch on a piece of candy while it
floats in the air. That alone is more than enough reason to stockpile M&M's on your next
space flight. No one knows if the astronauts argue over the
colors or varieties of M&M's, although we wouldn't be surprised if someone was found
hoarding all of the peanut M&M's. It just goes to show that no matter where humans are,
they take with them the need to have a bag of M&M's in their back pocket. Don't be surprised
in the next decade or two if Mars finds a way to build an intergalactic vending machine
and stock it with everyone's favorite M&M's varieties.
A Two Million M&M's Reward
Edvard Munch's "The Scream" was stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, and the
makers of M&M’s rose to the call of duty. They offered a reward of two million M&M's
for the safe return of the painting. How can anyone not want to become an instant detective
in hopes of getting two million M&M's? Just think about how many pieces of chocolatey
goodness that is. Two million M&M's is enough to last a person at least a week or two. Candy
this good can't be left around to sit and get old. No one ever has stale M&M's. Those
two million would be scarfed down faster than a turkey at Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, it
seems that no one was able to collect the two million M&M's reward. While this was one
amazing reward that any M&Ms fan would have loved to cash in on, it was actually the Norwegian
police who ended up finding the painting, just days after the M&Ms campaign was launched.
So the real question becomes, did anyone ever get those 2 million M&Ms? Well, 2 million
M&M’s equates to around 40,000 bags of M&M’s, which would come in at a weight of about 2.2
tons. So the logistics of even trying present someone with 2 million M&Ms was never realistic
to begin with. So no, neither the police, nor anyone for that matter got their hands
on the M&Ms. Instead the value said M&Ms, which was approximately 140,000 Norwegian
kroner, or about $26,000, was given to the Munch Museum.
M&M's Are The Choice Of American Presidents
We all know that M&M's are delicious. And the knowledge of their deliciousness isn't
lost on the presidents of the United States either. Ronald Reagan was always known to
be a lover of sweet treats. Who can ever forget his jar of jelly beans? Because of his love
of candy, it probably won't come as any surprise that Reagan made M&M's the official presidential
candy. There are special packages of M&M's that bear the president's signature on them.
Also, these M&M's don't come in a bag. No, they come in a box. The boxes themselves are
worth more than their M&M's content if you're a collector of presidential memorabilia. Anyone
who finds themselves lucky enough to have a box of these prized M&M's should do their
best to save the packaging. If for nothing else, you'll be able to tell future generations
how you were able to get your hands on them. Also, who knows, you may need some cash someday
and need to hawk the box of M&M's. You can probably sell them on eBay right now and come
away with a small score of loot. Though we suggest you eat the candy and save the box.
Let your future offspring get their own M&M's.
M&M's Were Almost A Favorite Snack Of E.T.
We all know that ET loved Reese's Pieces. Who can ever forget that the little extraterrestrial
seemed to go crazy over the candy? So much so that it might make you wonder just why
did he love those candies so much? Well, it turns out the answer to that question is far
more straightforward than anyone would like to believe. You see, the people making ET
first approached the Mars Corporation and they were asked if they would like to feature
a product in a new movie. No one knows for sure why Mars turned down the offer. Some
say it was due to the high cost of advertising in a movie, and others say the company felt
the flick was going to be a dud. But turn it down they did. So, in short, ET could've
been eating M&M's while phoning home. Hershey's ended up taking the movie company up on their
advertising offer instead. They had a brand new product called Reese's Pieces that needed
to gain a little traction. The rest is, as they say, history. Everyone now associates
Reese's Pieces with ET, and the two have lived happily ever after since. Who knows how history
would've changed if Mars decided to splurge and get the advertising. There's nothing to
worry about, M&M's have already been to space. Though, no word if any aliens have ever eaten
them.
Van Halen's outrageous request
The '80s were a decade of decadence and no one lived higher on the hog than rockstars.
Van Halen was one of the top-grossing bands of the decade. So, it should come as no surprise
that a band with such clout would have some demands and would probably get anything they
wanted. Van Halen requested a bowl of M&Ms in their dressing room for every concert.
That doesn't sound out of the ordinary in the slightest. However, their contract explicitly
stated that there were to be no brown M&M's in the bowl. That meant someone had to pick
out all of the brown M&M's before the band got there. No doubt, there were a few concert
venue workers who had to explain why they came home with a sack full of brown M&M's. What
did Van Halen have against brown M&M's? Well, it seems that the reasoning behind the now
infamous request may not be what it first appeared to be. Van Halen was concerned that
concert venues weren't paying attention to their demands. As you can see, such a thing
could put the fans and also the performer's safety in jeopardy. Asking to have a bowl
of M&M's with the brown candies removed was their way of seeing if the venue was paying
attention to their requests. The request was buried deep in the legal document. If the
concert venue had provided them with a bowl of M&Ms with the brown ones in it, legally,
it would've been in their right not to put on the show. That sounds crazy, but it was
right there in black and white.
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