Content deleted Content added
Line 199:
The original colors of M&M's candies were [[red]], [[yellow]], [[Violet (color)|violet]], [[green]] and [[Brown (color)|brown]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nww2m.com/2016/03/scitech-tuesday-wwii-and-the-invention-of-m-ms/|title=SciTech Tuesday: WWII and the Invention of M&Ms. – The National WWII Museum Blog|website=Nww2m.com|access-date=July 19, 2018|date=March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714170303/http://www.nww2m.com/2016/03/scitech-tuesday-wwii-and-the-invention-of-m-ms/|archive-date=July 14, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Violet was discontinued and replaced with [[tan (color)|tan]] in the late 1940s.
In 1976, Mars eliminated red-colored M&M's<ref>{{cite web|url=http://us.mms.com/us/about/history/story/|title=The Story of M&M's Brand|access-date=June 14, 2008|work=mms.com|publisher=[[Mars, Incorporated]]|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080409043530/http://us.mms.com/us/about/history/story/ |archive-date = April 9, 2008}}</ref> because of health concerns over the dye [[
|title=The man who brought Red M&M's back to life
|first=Jim
Line 215:
In early 1995, Mars ran a promotion in which consumers were invited to vote on which of blue, pink, or purple would replace the tan M&M's. Blue was the winner with 54% of the votes.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/candymakingincan0000carr|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/candymakingincan0000carr/page/78 78]|quote=smarties tablet candy history.|title=Candymaking in Canada: The History and Business of Canada's Confectionery Industry|last=Carr|first=David|date=2003|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=9781550023954|language=en}}</ref> It replaced tan in late 1995. Consumers could vote by calling 1-800-FUN-COLOR. Ads for the new blue colors featured a plain and an almond blue M&M character as Red and Yellow take notice of trying to do takes in the commercial by painting themselves blue where they appear on stage with [[B.B. King]] singing the blues, but the filmmakers had to cut the scene as they were not the real blue M&M's; another featured Red and Yellow holding their breath to look like the new blue M&M's, where [[Steven Weber (actor)|Steven Weber]] sees the three M&M's, Red, Yellow, and Blue; and one more featuring Weber talking to the blue M&M if he had dived into the chocolate pool, but did not.
In 2002, Mars solicited votes in their first ever "M&M's Global Color Vote" to add a new color from three choices: [[aqua (color)|aqua]] ([[turquoise (color)|turquoise]]), [[pink]], and purple. To help the colors get votes, [[Ken Schrader]] and his [[MB2 Motorsports]] team, who was sponsored by M&M's at the time, ran four paint schemes during the [[2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season]] representing the promotion (one for aqua, one for pink, one for purple, and another one with all three colors on the car). Once purple won and was featured for a limited time, specially marked packages of M&M's were released. Finding a bag of all purple M&M's entitled American customers to a prize of 100 million [[Japanese yen]] (equivalent to approximately US$852,000), payable in U.S. dollars. Other cash prizes, amounting to over 50,000, came in [[
Since 2004, M&M's have been available online in 17 colors, with personalized phrases on each candy on the opposite side from the "m".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mymms.com/|title=Custom Printed MY M&M's|work=mms.com|publisher=[[Mars, Incorporated]]|access-date=February 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211174015/http://www.mymms.com/|archive-date=February 11, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> Released around Christmas, these custom-printed M&M's were originally intended for [[holiday greetings]], but are now available all year round.
| |||