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M&M's facts for kids
Owner | Mars, Incorporated |
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Country | United States |
Introduced | September 10, 1941 |
Related brands | Minstrels, Revels, Treets |
Markets | Worldwide (over 100 countries) |
M&Ms are round chocolates with an “m” printed on each one. They are available in many different colors. These colors are green, yellow, blue, red, brown, and orange. They also come in different flavors such as milk chocolate, dark chocolate, mint chocolate, peanuts, almonds, orange chocolate, coconut, and peanut butter. M&Ms have also been included in many other candy products.
The candy-coated chocolate concept was inspired by a method used to allow soldiers in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) to carry chocolate in warm climates without it melting. The company's longest-lasting slogan reflects this: "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand." A traditional milk chocolate M&M weighs about 0.91 grams / 0.032 ounces and has about 4.7 calories (kcal) of food energy (1.7 kcal from fat). Despite common belief, each colored M&M does not have a different flavor and all possess the same chocolate taste.
History
Forrest Mars is the founder of the Mars Company. He got the idea for M&M’s during the 1930 Spanish Civil War. He saw soldiers eating chocolate pellets with hard chocolate shells. He decided to make his own chocolate candies. He got the patent for these on March 3, 1941.
The name M&M comes from the founders name Forrest E. Mars Sr. The other M comes from the name of the president of the Hershey Company, William F. R. Murrie.
The company's first big customer was the U.S. Army, which saw the invention as a way to allow soldiers to carry chocolate in tropical climates without it melting. During World War II, the candies were exclusively sold to the military.
M&M's characters
Character | Type | Voice actor |
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Red | Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Crispy |
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Yellow | Peanut and Dark Chocolate Peanut |
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Blue | Almond, Raspberry, and Dark Chocolate |
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Green | Dark Chocolate, Mint, and Peanut Butter |
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Orange (Crispy) | Crispy and Pretzel |
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Ms. Brown | Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate and Fudge Brownie | |
Purple | Peanut, Caramel, Cold Brew, and Hazelnut Spread | |
Caramel (cube) | Caramel | |
Pretzel Guy (symmetrical) | Pretzel |
Interesting facts about M&M's
- In 1950, the letter "M" was first printed on the candies, giving them a unique trademark.
- The letter "M" was initially black. It was changed to white in 1954.
- In 1954 the world famous M&M characters made their first television appearance.
- Peanut M&M's were introduced in 1954 but first appeared only in the color tan. In 1960, M&M's added the yellow, red, and green colors.
- Early black-and-white adverts for the candy in 1954 featured two talking, anthropomorphic M&M characters—one plain and one peanut—diving into a swimming pool full of chocolate.
- In 1976, the color orange was added to the mix to replace red. Red M&M's were re-introduced in 1987.
- In 1980 M&M’s were sold across the world.
- In 1997, the MARS candy company created Mini-M&Ms.
- During the 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 at mymms.com.
- In January 2022, Mars announced plans to alter the design of the M&Ms characters. The company announced that the aim of this change was to make their characters more representative of a broader array of human personalities and personal backgrounds.
- M&Ms animated charactes are referred to as 'spokecandies'.
- On September 28, 2022, the introduction of purple M&M's were announced, as well as their newest spokescandy, Purple.
Images for kids
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Milk Chocolate M&M's were introduced in 1941.
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Orange M&M's chocolate candy in cross-section with millimeter ruler for scale. Shows layers of hard-panned coating.
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M&M's World London
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Outside of M&M's World in Times Square, New York City
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The M&M's sponsored NASCAR stock car driven by Kyle Busch
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M&M's World on the Las Vegas Strip
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The six cartoon "spokescandies" for M&M's since 2012
See also
In Spanish: M&M's para niños