In 1998, M&M's became "The Official Candy of the [[New Millennium]]", since MM is the roman numeral for 2000. A year later, Crispy M&M's were released. They were slightly larger than the milk chocolate variety and featured a crispy rice center. They were discontinued in the United States in 2005. They are still available in Europe, Australia, and southeast Asia.
In 1990, an M&MsM's exhibit at New York's Erie County Fair, promoting the company's nutrition awareness campaign, became the precursor to Cow Parade, the whimsical phenomenon where municipalities and museums display decorated cattle at convenient traffic intersections. The M&MsM's display was a life size fiberglass cow covered with 66,000 M&M candies, each adhered by hand with the "m" logo on each candy facing outward. Candy the Cow was the first-ever decorated bovine, and earned M&M Mars $1 million in free publicity. The chocolate marvel, created by designer [[Michael Adams (graphic designer)|Michael Adams]], was reported on by ''[[Newsweek]]'' Magazinemagazine ("udderly amazing") as well as the ''[[New York Post]]'', [[UPI]] and [[WABC-TV]]. Candy then appeared as a live "guest" on ''[[Live with Regis]]'', where Regis Philbin "interviewed" her and affirmed the nutritional value of milk chocolate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.behindthescenesmarketing.com/events-tshws-props/01_cow.html |title=Events - M&M Candy Cow |publisher=Behindthescenesmarketing.com |date= |accessdate=January 15, 2010}}</ref>
One of the commercials for M&MsM's released in the 1990s was a Christmas commercial where the spokes-candies (Red and Yellow) were trying to leave a bowl of red and green M&MsM's out for Santa Claus.
