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The history of M&M’s traces its origins to the Spanish Civil War, when then President of Mars Inc. Forrest Mars Sr. observed soldiers eating British-made chocolate little candy pellets that were protected by a hard sugar coating.
The candies, known as Smarties, kept the chocolate from melting in soldiers’ hands.
Mars, seeing the practicality, decided he should make his own American version of the candy.
The M&M’s name stems from a 1941 business partnership between Mars and Hershey’s companies.
Forrest Mars Sr., of Mars company, approached Bruce Murrie, whose father was president of Hershey’s Chocolate.
Basically, Mars needed Hershey’s chocolate expertise and supply chain during wartime rationing, while Murrie sought new business opportunities.
So, they named it by using their initials to reflect the partnership.
The partnership dissolved in 1948 when Mars bought out Murrie’s 20% stake, but the name endured.
In 1941, Mars Inc. launched M&M production in Newark, New Jersey, in the midst of World War II.
The U.S. Army became M&M’s first major customer.
They saw the candy’s melt-proof value.
The innovative candy shell prevented melting in tropical climates, solving a persistent challenge in military food supplies.
It was the first time Americans had chocolate that could withstand warm temperatures without turning into a gooey mess.
Mars distributed the candies in cardboard tubes, distinct from the familiar packets used today.
Printing the iconic “m” marks on each piece demanded specialized machinery.
In 1954, Mars Inc. developed a peanut version of M&M’s in direct response to consumers seeking a heartier snack option.
At launch, the company only used the color tan for its shell color.
It minimized production complexity and created a distinct visual identity that set Peanut M&M’s apart from their milk chocolate counterparts, giving a visual marker of the real peanut inside.
M&M's pioneered character-based candy advertising in 1954 with Red and Yellow.
The cast grew in the 1990s, adding Blue, Green, and Orange to reflect evolving social attitudes.
Later additions Brown (2012) and Purple (2022) brought themes of professionalism and inclusivity.
While the characters briefly stepped aside for spokesperson Maya Rudolph in 2023, they returned as enduring brand ambassadors while maintaining their distinctive personalities.
Mars, Inc. trademarked the slogan “melts in your mouth, not in your hands” in 1954.
This helped to capture the key selling point, which was that the candy coating protected the chocolate until it was eaten.
The marketers wanted to show that you could hold M&Ms on a hot day, and your fingers would stay clean.
The chocolate only melted once you put it in your mouth, exactly where and when you wanted it to.
The slogan remained central to M&M’s marketing for seven decades, making it one of the most enduring and successful advertising phrases in American business history.
NASA first added M&M’s to space food menus in 1981 aboard the Columbia STS-1 mission.
The candy’s hard sugar shell prevented the chocolate from crumbling and floating around the cabin—a critical feature in the controlled environment of a spacecraft.
M&M’s became a consistent part of NASA’s space food program, appearing in both shuttle missions and on the International Space Station.
In 1984, Mars, Inc. paid $4 million to place M&M’s and Snickers at the Los Angeles Olympics but insisted on specific language in the agreement.
Rather than accepting the label “official candy,” Mars negotiated for “official snack food” status.
The company wanted to place M&M’s and Snickers alongside energy-rich foods like granola bars and trail mix.
Mars Inc. removed red M&M’s from production in 1976 over public concern over Red Dye #2, a food coloring linked to cancer in Soviet studies.
Orange M&M’s filled the gap, joining the existing brown, yellow, green, and tan candies.
Red M&M’s sat in exile for eleven years.
However, in 1987, red M&M’s returned to packages across America.
M&M’s is known for its large dedicated retail locations:
Each location featured signature elements like candy walls and interactive displays before shifting to a dual strategy in 2020 that maintained these flagship stores while introducing smaller 2,000-5,000-square-foot mall locations focused on quick purchases and basic merchandise.
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