M & M's

The little chocolate candies called M & M's have been a favorite since 1941. Invented my Forrest Mars after he had seen soldiers eating chocolates with a hard shell during the Spanish Civil War. Mars got a patent in march of 1941 and started making them in his plant in New Jersey at the end of that summer. The two M's relate to Mars himself and Bruce Murrie the son of Hershey Chocolate's president. Hershey owned 20% of the company as it was war and chocolate was rationed. During World War II the candies were sold exclusively to the military. It was after the war that the sales really took off. The original colors were brown, yellow, green, red and violet. In 1950 a lower case M was printed on the hard outer shell and in 1954 the M was changed to the white letter we know today. The red M & M's were discontinued in 1976 because of the dye used to make the red color was found to be a carcinogen. Peanut M & M's were introduced in 1954 along with the slogan "melts in your mouth not in your hand". In 1986 red candies were reintroduced with a new dye that was deemed safe. In 1995 after a ad campaign that included voting blue M & M's were introduced to the market. It was discovered in 2009 that the blue dye used in the M & M 's has aided paralyzed rats in walking.

Over the years Mars Candy has created other products and other versions of the M & M but the original has always proved to be the favorite!