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M&M's

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This article is about the candy. For other uses, see M&M.
Milk Chocolate M&M's

M&M's Chocolate Candies are candy-coated pieces of chocolate with the letter "m" inscribed on them, produced by Mars, Incorporated. Several variations of the candy exist, including milk chocolate, peanut, cherry cordial (available primarily during the Christmas season), dulce de leche, toffee, crispy, almond, peanut butter, white chocolate (with and without peanuts), mint flavor, and dark chocolate (with and without peanuts). The candies were originally manufactured in brown, yellow, orange, red, green, and violet. Violet was replaced by tan in 1949, which was replaced by blue in 1995. Mars also launched a competition to have a new color between purple, pink, and turquoise sometime around 2002. Purple became the extra color, but it eventually disappeared.[1]

The letter "m" on each candy is a vegetable dye printed using a process similar to offset printing.[2]

History

In 1941, the original milk chocolate variety of M&M's were first introduced to American soldiers serving in World War II.

In 1954, Peanut Chocolate Candies were introduced, while the M&M's brand characters and the famous slogan "The milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand" were both trademarked.

File:M&M's store.JPG
M&M's store at Florida Mall in Orlando, FL

Red candies were eliminated in 1976[3] due to health concerns over the dye amaranth (FD&C Red #2), which was a suspected carcinogen, and were replaced with orange-colored candies (this despite the fact that M&M's did not contain the dye; the action was purely to satisfy worried consumers). By 1987, the public had forgotten the scare, and the red candies were reintroduced, but they also kept the orange colored M&M's. They currently contain Allura red AC (FD&C Red #40). In Europe, Allura red AC (E129) is not recommended for consumption by children. It is banned in Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, and Norway.[4] Instead, Cochineal (E120) is used in the red shells.

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.

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 1993, 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.

Around the same time, novelty M&M's were available in specialty stores, such as FAO Schwarz, in 21 different colors.

In 1996, Mars introduced a new M&M's candy: the "M&M's Minis". These candies are very small and are usually sold in small plastic tubes instead of bags. A video game, M&M's: The Lost Formulas, was also eventually released, based on this candy.

In 1998, Crispy M&M's were released. They were slightly larger than the milk chocolate variety and feature a crispy rice center. They were discontinued in 2005.

Recent Events & Promotions

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.[5]

In June 2004, M&M's were mentioned in the media when Mike Melvill, who flew a weightless suborbital arc in SpaceShipOne, the world's first private piloted space flight, opened up a package of the chocolate brand when he reached the border of space (100km) in order to demonstrate weightlessness as the candy floated in the cabin. Melvill chose the candies because they were both colorful, therefore showing up well on camera, and because once gravity returned, if they fell into any of the controls they could be easily crushed and not interfere with the mechanisms. Melvill never told his bosses about his unauthorized stunt.

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 a dark variety for the first time.

In the summer of 2005, Mars added "Mega M&M's" to the lineup.[6] 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 (unchanged from regular M&M's) — 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.

"My Color" Wall inside M&M's World Las Vegas Strip

In 2006, Mars offered eight new flavors of M&M's via online sales, as well as at M&M's World locations. The flavors are All That Razz; Eat, Drink, & Be Cherry; A Day at the Peach; Orange-U-Glad; Mint Condition; AlmonDeeLicious; Nut What You Think; and Cookie Minster. The first five have a white chocolate and milk chocolate center with a flavored shell. The two nut flavors have an almond or peanut center with white chocolate and candy shell. Cookie Minster has a crispy center with dark chocolate and a mint flavored shell. The company also released a Crispy Mint variety in Australia. Also in July 2006, Dark Chocolate M&M's reappeared in a purple package with the green female M&M as the mascot. In 2006, the company also piloted White Chocolate M&M's as a tie-in with their Pirates of the Caribbean promotion.

Beginning in 2006, M&M's can be purchased online in 17 colors, with custom phrases on each candy on the opposite side from the "m" (excluding the Special Edition Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean designs).[7] Released around Christmas, these custom printed M&M's were originally intended for holiday greetings, but are now available year-round. More recently, baseball fans could obtain M&M's with their favorite Major League Baseball club's logo on them online and at team stores. This option is no longer available, but site users can now upload their own images to be printed on M&M's instead of a message.

In 2007, M&M's introduced a new raspberry flavor chocolate candy that looks like the plain, but is fuchsia and slightly larger, called "M&M's Razzberry Chocolate Candies."

M&M's currently have recognizable "spokescandies" which appear in commercials: these include the team of the cynical and sardonic "Red" (originally Jon Lovitz, thereafter Billy West), who is the mascot for milk chocolate M&M's, and the happy and gullible "Yellow" (originally John Goodman, thereafter J.K. Simmons), who is the mascot for peanut M&M's. Other mascots include the "cool one", Blue (Robb Pruitt) for almond; Green (Cree Summer) for peanut butter and dark chocolate (the only female M&M's mascot); and Orange (Eric Kirchberger) for other types of M&M's in general, who was initially not named after his color (for a time when he was introduced, he was known as Crispy due to his being a mascot for the now discontinued Crispy M&M's, which debuted around the same time).

During the 2008 Valentine's Day season Mars introduced bags of all green M&M's. This was due to common urban folklore that holds green M&M's to be an aphrodisiac. [8]

In 2008, two new varieties of the candy were introduced — Wildly Cherry M&M's, and as a marketing tie-in with the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Mint Crisp M&M's. M&M's also introduced another new candy product called "M&M's Premiums" in 2008. The candies have metallic-looking topcoats instead of the traditional candy shells. They come in five flavors — chocolate almond, mint chocolate, mocha, raspberry almond and triple chocolate (milk, dark, and white chocolate), which are sold in upright cardboard boxes with a clear window that exposes the candy. Aside from the exterior finish of the candy, "M&M's Premiums" is formulated from a new recipe. The creamier chocolate allows the ouside finish and new flavors to be better incorporated. [9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Burgess, Glenn (2005). "In Praise of Blue M&M's". Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  2. ^ Adams, Cecil (1988-08-05). "How do they get the M's on M&M's?". The Straight Dope. Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  3. ^ "The Story of M&M'S Brand". mms.com. Mars, Incorporated. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  4. ^ "E129 Allura Red AC, FD&C Red 40". Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  5. ^ "M&M lovers pick purple". CNNMoney.com. Time Warner. 2002-06-20. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  6. ^ "M&M's get mega-sized". CNNMoney.com. Time Warner. 2005-08-04. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  7. ^ "Custom Printed MY M&M'S". mms.com. Mars, Incorporated. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  8. ^ {{cite news |title=M&M'S® CHOCOLATE CANDIES GO GREEN JUST IN TIME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/mars/31278/ |work=[[prnewswire.com] |publisher=PRNewswire |date=2008-01-16 |accessdate=2008-08-14 }}
  9. ^ Clifford, Stephanie (2008-08-07). ""Mars Takes M&M's Out of Their Shell"". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
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