38 Fun Facts About M&M's

In which New Jersey city did Forrest Mars start making M&M's?

Newark hosted the first M&M's plant, on Badger Avenue, and soaring demand soon forced the company into bigger quarters across the city.

Bruce Murrie, the second 'M' in M&M's, was the son of which rival chocolate company's president?

Hershey controlled scarce wartime chocolate, so the Murrie deal kept M&M's supplied; once quotas ended, Mars pushed Bruce Murrie out and bought his share.

Forrest Mars reportedly modelled M&M's on which sweets he saw during the Spanish Civil War?

Smarties is the usual answer, though no one knows for sure: a hard sugar shell kept their chocolate from melting in the heat.

Who was M&M's first big customer?

The US Army was the first big buyer: during the Second World War the candies went almost entirely to the military, because the hard shell let soldiers carry chocolate in tropical heat.

M&M's famous slogan promises the candy melts in your mouth, but not where?

In the hand: adman Rosser Reeves wrote the line to sell the candy's sugar shell, which keeps the chocolate from melting in your grip.

The 'm' stamped on M&M's is white today, but what colour was it at first?

Black was the first colour of the 'm', stamped on to give the candies a trademark of their own before white replaced it.

Why did Mars drop red M&M's in 1976?

A public scare over red food dyes: Red No. 2 was banned in 1976 as a suspected carcinogen, and although M&M's did not use it, Mars dropped red to avoid confusion; orange took its place.

A joke campaign by a student at which university, home of the Volunteers, helped bring red M&M's back in 1987?

Tennessee freshman Paul Hethmon's spoof 'Society for the Restoration and Preservation of Red M&M's' grew from a joke among friends into a worldwide rally.

When M&M's fans voted in 1995 on a colour to replace tan, which won with 54 percent of the vote?

Blue won with 54 percent of more than 10 million votes, and in Australia navy-clad Carlton footballers wore sky blue for a 1997 match to launch it.

Mars's first 'Global Color Vote' in 2002 added which colour for a limited run?

Purple beat aqua and pink with 41 percent of the vote, and after its limited run it returned in 2022 as the first new spokescandy in a decade.

Which New Jersey town has made M&M's since 1958?

Hackettstown took over M&M's production in 1958 because demand had outgrown the company's old factory.

In 1982 Mars turned down the chance to put M&M's in which Steven Spielberg film?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial used Reese's Pieces instead, and with the film's blockbuster success the rival candy's sales soared.

Which rock band's tour rider famously demanded a bowl of M&M's with all the brown ones removed?

Van Halen's rider banned brown M&M's as a test: brown candies in the bowl meant the promoter had not read the technical rider, so the crew re-checked the staging and rigging.

Which colour M&M was the subject of a 1970s urban legend that it was an aphrodisiac?

Green: Mars later cashed in on the rumour, giving its Green spokescandy a seductive persona and selling all-green bags for Valentine's Day 2008.

Who created the modern CGI M&M's spokescandies in 1995, having earlier made the California Raisins?

Will Vinton lost control of his own studio after Nike founder Phil Knight became its biggest shareholder, and it was reborn as Laika.

Which Saturday Night Live star originally voiced the sardonic Red spokescandy?

Jon Lovitz voiced Red when the 1995 ads turned mascots who all but begged to be eaten into sarcastic, wisecracking characters.

Ms. Brown, the spokescandy unveiled in a 2012 Super Bowl ad, is voiced by which actress?

Vanessa Williams voices Ms. Brown, one of the characters whose 2022 makeover drew the backlash that led Mars to 'pause' its spokescandies.

In a Super Bowl LII ad, Red wished to become human and was played by which actor?

Danny DeVito played the human Red, who had used a lucky penny to wish himself inedible so that nobody could eat him any more.

Which comedian did Mars name as spokesperson when it 'paused' the spokescandies in January 2023?

Maya Rudolph's reign was a stunt: her Super Bowl ad pitched 'Ma&Ya's' candy-coated clams, and a post-game 'press conference' brought the spokescandies back.

Which M&M's variety vanished from US shelves in 2005 and came back a decade later?

Crispy returned in January 2015 after what Mars called a decade of pleas from fans.

Which NASCAR driver's No. 18 car carried M&M's sponsorship from 2008 to 2022, winning two Cup titles?

Kyle Busch won the 2015 and 2019 Cup titles in the No. 18 M&M's Toyota, and in 2026 M&M's colours returned on a tribute car honouring his legacy.

The first M&M's World store opened in 1997 in which city?

Las Vegas: the store opened in 1997 in the Showcase Mall beside the MGM Grand on the Strip; Orlando, New York and London stores followed.

M&M's styled themselves as the official candy of what in 1998?

The New Millennium: since MM is the Roman numeral for 2000, Mars declared M&M's 'the official candy of the new millennium' in 1998, two years ahead of the date.

Which confectionery process builds up the hard sugar shell on M&M's?

Panning coats each centre in hardened sugar syrup, and in the 1950s the Midwest Research Institute built M&M's a machine that coated 3,300 pounds of centres an hour.

Presidential M&M's handed to guests on Air Force One took the place of which earlier souvenir?

Cigarettes gave way after Ronald Reagan asked Mars in 1988 to make custom presidential boxes of M&M's.

The 'Plain' M&M's variety was renamed what in 2000?

Milk Chocolate replaced 'Plain' after 46 years, and Red announced it in the ads: 'I am not a Plain M&M, I am a Milk Chocolate M&M.'

Which Petula Clark song did M&M's adopt for its TV ads in 2004?

Colour My World became the jingle, but the ads used newly recorded versions by other singers rather than Petula Clark's own.

In 2001 dulce de leche M&M's premiered in five heavily Hispanic markets, including which city?

Miami was a launch market, but the flavour flopped: Hispanic shoppers preferred existing varieties, and it was gone from most areas by 2003.

Mars, maker of M&M's, is headquartered in which Virginia community, also home to the CIA's headquarters?

McLean is home to a famously secretive head office: the building carries no company sign, and the Mars family long refused to talk to the press.

Frank Mars founded the first Mars candy factory in 1911 in which city?

Tacoma, Washington, was where Frank Mars's first candy business struggled, before he moved back to Minnesota and started again.

Which bar, launched in 1923, did Forrest Mars claim was his idea after he drank a malted milkshake?

Milky Way sold so well that Frank Mars later built a sprawling horse-racing estate and named it Milky Way Farm.

Estranged from his father, the future M&M's co-founder moved to England and created which two products?

The Mars bar and Maltesers came from the Slough factory Forrest set up with $50,000 and overseas rights to his father's best-seller, making Mars a major British confectioner.

After retiring in 1973, Forrest Mars founded a premium chocolate company in Nevada named after which relative?

His mother, Ethel, gave the firm its name, and Forrest set it up in Nevada, one of the few states that let him sell liqueur-filled chocolates.

Besides M&M's, Forrest Mars launched which rice brand in a venture with a Texan businessman?

Uncle Ben's sold converted rice, parboiled by a special process that kept in more nutrients and cut the cooking time.

In Europe, M&M's replaced which two existing Mars candy brands?

Treets (peanut) and Bonitos (plain) were Mars's European sugar-shelled brands; M&M's took their place market by market from the late 1980s, while Revels and Minstrels survived as separate Mars lines.

M&M's World London, Europe's first M&M's store, opened in 2011 on which square?

Leicester Square: the store rose on the site of the demolished Swiss Centre, whose famous glockenspiel was restored and returned to the square in 2011.

Mega M&M's arrived in 2005 in muted colours such as teal, maroon and beige; who were they aimed at?

Adults: Mars pitched the Megas, about 55 percent bigger than regular M&M's, as a reminder that candy isn't just for kids.

For a promotion in early 2004, M&M's in the US were sold only in which two colours?

Black and white: a nationwide contest sent fans hunting for the missing shades, and the usual mix returned in March 2004.