Wikipedia

M&M's

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jarkob 117 (talk | contribs) at 14:15, 24 May 2010 (→1970s and 1980s). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
This article is about the candy. For other uses, see M&M.

M&M's (named after the surnames of the company founders Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie[2]) are dragée-like "colorful button-shaped candies"[1] produced by Mars, Incorporated. The candy shells, each of which has the letter "m" printed in lower case on one side, surround a variety of fillings, including milk chocolate, dark chocolate, crisped rice, mint chocolate, peanuts, almonds, orange chocolate, coconut, and peanut butter. M&M's originated in the United States in 1941, and are now sold in over 100 countries.[1] They are produced in different colors, some of which have changed over the years. The difference between the different colored M&Ms is the dye added to the outer coating, which does not actually affect the taste.

M&M's
Milk Chocolate M&M's
Product typeCandy
OwnerMars, Incorporated
CountryUnited States
Introduced1941
Related brandsMinstrels, Revels, Skittles, Treets
MarketsWorldwide (over 100 countries)[1]
Websitehttp://www.mms.com/

History

1940s

M&Ms were orignaly filled with peanut buttered flavored jewish people

1950s

In 1950 they changed it to black people's jiz

1970s and 1980s

Red candies were eliminated in 1976 due to exsseve blood in the mix. so they made penis flavored.

1990s

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 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, replacing tan in early 1995. Consumers could vote by calling 1-800-FUN-COLOR. (The introduction of blue M&M's to Australia in 1997 was controversially promoted by the Carlton Football Club of the Australian Football League (AFL) who, for one game, swapped their trademark dark blue guernseys for pale blue guernseys—their first change since the early 20th century.[3])

File:M&M's spokecandies.jpg
Red and Yellow, two of M&M's "spokecandies".
File:Blue M spokecandy.jpg
The Blue "spokecandy".

Concurrent with the Blue M&M campaign, M&M's introduced computer animated "spokescandies" in their television commercials. These include the team of the cynical and sardonic "Red" (originally voiced by 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 (originally Phil Hartman, thereafter Robb Pruitt) for almond; the seductive Green (Cree Summer) for peanut butter, mint, and dark chocolate (Green is the only female M&M's mascot); and the slightly neurotic 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). Although brown M&Ms have been around since the beginning of the candy, no brown M&M "spokescandy" was included.

In 1996, Mars introduced "M&M's Minis", smaller candies usually sold in plastic tubes instead of bags.[citation needed] A video game, M&M's: The Lost Formulas, was also eventually released, based on this candy.

In 1999, 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, though they brought in more profit than any other M&M variety.[citation needed] They are still available in Europe, Australia, and southeast Asia.

In 1990, an M&Ms 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&Ms 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[disambiguation needed], was reported on as news by Newsweek Magazine ("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.[4]

2000–2005

In 2000, "Plain" M&M's (a name introduced in 1954 when Peanut M&M's were introduced) were renamed "Milk Chocolate" M&M's, and pictures of the candy pieces were added to the traditional brown and white packaging.[5]

In July 2001, caramel-filled Dulce de Leche M&M's were introduced in five markets with large Hispanic populations: Los Angeles, CA, cheese cakeSan Diego, CA, Miami, FL, Mcallen-Brownsville, TX, and San Antonio, TX.[6] The flavor never became popular with the Hispanic community, who preferred existing M&M's flavors, and it was discontinued in most areas by early 2003.[7] The flavor was widely panned for containing 36 grams of fat per serving.[8]

In 2002, Mars solicited votes to add a new color from three choices: aqua, pink, and purple. This time, purple won and was featured for a limited time.[9]

Since 2005 M&M's have been available online in 17 colors, with personalized phrases on each candy on the opposite side from the "m".[10] Released around Christmas, these custom-printed M&M's were originally intended for holiday greetings, but are now available all year round.

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 dark chocolate varieties (Regular and Peanut) for the first time.

In the summer of 2005, Mars added "Mega M&M's" to the lineup.[11] 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 — 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.

2006–present

 
Outside of the M&M store in Times Square, New York City.

In July 2006, Dark Chocolate M&M's reappeared in a purple package, followed in 2007 by Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's. Also in 2006, the company also piloted White Chocolate M&M's as a tie-in with their Pirates of the Caribbean promotion. The company also offered eight new flavors of M&M's via online sales, as well as at M&M's World locations: "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". Mars also released a "Crispy Mint" variety in Australia that year.[citation needed]

In 2007, M&M's introduced a limited-edition raspberry flavor called "M&M's Razzberry Chocolate Candies."[citation needed]

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.[12] They were brought back for Valentine's Day 2009 alongside the "Ms. Green Heats Up Valentine's Day" contest.

In 2008, two new limited-edition 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.[citation needed]

M&M's also introduced another new product called "M&M's Premiums" in 2008. They come in five flavors — chocolate almond, mint chocolate, mocha, raspberry almond and triple chocolate (milk, dark, and white chocolate), which are sold in small upright cartons with a plastic bag inside. M&M's Premiums do not have a candy shell, but are coated with carnauba wax and color. Dark Chocolate was added in 2009, replacing Mocha.[citation needed]

During summer of 2008, My M&M's launched 'Faces,' which allows consumers to print the faces of loved ones on M&M's chocolate candies.Template:Citationcheese cake needed

In January 2009, three new "shimmering" colors were added to the list of custom printable colors. The colors in this collection have a pearlescent finish.[13] In February 2009, M&M's launched "M&M’S Color Break-Up" Promotion in Australia where colors were sold in separate packs (one for each color): the packs included a code to win prizes.[14]

In Summer 2009, M&M's launched a limited-edition "Strawberried Peanut Butter" variant to tie in with the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. In addition, M&M's launched a limited edition "Coconut M&M's."

In July 2009, a study showed that a dye similar to that in blue M&M's showed benefits in helping paralyzed rats to walk again.[15]

In April 2010, M&M's launched a new "pretzel variety."[citation needed]

In early 2010, M&M's Bare All were released as part of a competition in Australia and New Zealand.[16] M&M's Bare All winning packs were ordinary M&M's, but without shells (and hence had no colours). An official website, http://m-msbareall.com.au/, was launched, along with television advertisements.[17]

Color changes in chocolate M&M's

The following is a summary of the changes to the colors of the flagship (milk chocolate) flavor of M&M's, the only filling manufactured since the beginning of the brand. From 1941 until 1987, each package contained M&M's in five different colors; when red M&M's were reintroduced in 1987, they were added as a sixth color instead of replacing any of the existing colors.

 
M&M's World on the Las Vegas Strip.

Related candy brands from Mars include Minstrels, Revels, Skittles, and Treets; similar products from other companies include Smarties and two products from The Hershey Company: Reese's Pieces and Hershey-ets.

M&M's World specialty shops have been established in some locations. Several M&Ms-themed video games have been created.

References

  1. ^ a b c M&M's candy fades to black and white, a December 30, 2003 Reuters article via USA Today
  2. ^ Inventor of the Week Archive
  3. ^ "The Clubs". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  4. ^ "Events - M&M Candy Cow". Behindthescenesmarketing.com. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  5. ^ http://www.collectorcafe.com/article_archive.asp?article=10&id=1877
  6. ^ "M&M/MARS Woos Latinos With New ``M&M's'' Dulce de Leche-Caramel Chocolate Candies; New Flavor to Premiere in Markets With Highest Concentration of Latinos. | Food & Beverage > Food Industry from". AllBusiness.com. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  7. ^ http://www.nuintelligence.net/Manager/anmviewer.asp?a=9[dead link]
  8. ^ "Dulce de Leche M&M's | New York". DailyCandy.com. 2002-02-13. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference cnn0620 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Custom Printed MY M&M'S". mms.com. Mars, Incorporated. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  11. ^ "M&M's get mega-sized". CNNMoney.com. Time Warner. 2005-08-04. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  12. ^ "M&M'S Chocolate Candies go green just in time for Valentine's Day". PRNewswire. 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  13. ^ "My M&M's -25 Custom Chocolate Candy Colors". Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  14. ^ "M&M'S Color Break Up". Mars. 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  15. ^ "Julie's Health Club: Dye found in blue M&Ms may improve spinal injuries". Featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com. 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  16. ^ http://m-msbareall.com.au/index.html
  17. ^ M&M's Bare All TV commercial from YouTube
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to M&M's.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=M%26M%27s&oldid=363927007"