BIRTH OF THE M&M CANDY
1940's The idea for M&M Chocolate candies began during the Spanish Civil War when Forrest Mars Sr. was in Spain and and saw soldiers that were eating pellets of chocolate surrounded by a hard sugary coating to protect them from melting. Mr. Mars was inspired by what he saw in Spain and came back to his kitchen and invented the recipe for M&M Plain Chocolate Candies.
M&M Plain Chocolate Candies were first sold to the public in 1941 and became a favorite of the American GI's serving in World War II. These first M&M's were packaged in cardboard tubes. The candies were sold to the military as a snack that traveled well in any climate. By the 40's they were widely available to the public, who gave them an exciting reception. In 1948 the packaging changed from the tube to the brown pouch that is widely associated with M&M candies today.
GROWING POPULARITY
1950's
Entering the 1950's M&M's were gaining popularity in American households, especially with the growth of television. 1954 Peanut M&M's were introduced to the M&M Candies family and the sales of both varieties continued to grow.
Also in 1954 the M&M characters made their television debute in an initial TV advertising and this slogan became famous "The Milk Chocolate Melts in Your Mouth Not in Your Hands"
1960
Peanut M&M's added three new colors to the original brown mix: red, green and yellow.
1970's
The first appearance of the M&M characters on packaging was in 1972 and
this reinforced brand awareness and the characters became known through print and TV
advertising.
The color orange was added in 1976 to the M&M Peanut Candies mix and red candies were
removed from the traditional color mix of both plain and peanut candies to prevent
confusion due to public contrversy over a specific red food coloring.
M&M'S IN SPACE
1980's
M&M Chocolate Candies were chosen by the first space shuttle astronauts to
be included in their food supply. M&M's are now on permanent display at the space food
exhibit of the "National Air & Space Museum" in Washington, D.C.
New holiday color blends of red and green for christmas and pastels for Easter were added
in the early 1980's.
During the 1980's M&M's grew internationaly mainly entering European markets.
RED, HE's BACK IN THE BAG
1987
This was a very important year in the history of the M&M's. Red was added back to the traditional color mix as a result of overwhelming consumer requests.
1990's
Two new products joined the M&M family: Peanut Butter and Almond.
In 1995, 54 years after the candies were intorduced people across America
helped create history. A "mega" marketing event asked Americans to vote for a
new color to appear in the traditional M&M candy mix. The choices included blue, pink,
purple, or no change. Can you guess who won? I will give you one hint he plays the
saxaphone pretty darn good for a candy coated chocolate. Blue was the consumers choice by
a landslide with 54% of the more than 10 million votes.
Also in 1995 Mini Baking Bits were introduced.
1996
1996 will be remembered for many exciting M&M events. The advertising campaign for the M&M's Brand utilizing the characters catapulted to the #1 position among more than 60 campaigns rated by USA Today. And the new characters became a hit with consumers, surpassing the popularity of Mickey Mouse or Bart Simpson.
In 1996 MINIs Chocolate Candies were introduced in re-closable plastic tubes in six different colors.
Another major breakthrough the M&M characters went "Virtual Hollywood" across the Internet with the opening of the M&M Studios. Visitors to the site found themselves inside the star-studded, glamorous world of the M&M spokescandies. This parody Hollywood studios web site is as colorful as the M&M's Stars themselves. The website uses Shockwave and RealAudio technology for the characters lifelike animation and sound.
M&M's COLORWORKS was introduced and offers a kaleidoscope of over 20 brilliantly colored M&M Plain Chocolate Candies. Now M&M fans can create their own color blends to add a personal touch to any special occassion, baby showers, weddings, birthday parties, ect.....