M&Ms
M&Ms are small, milk chocolate candy pieces popular both in the United States and in many other countries around the world. They are produced by Mars Incorporated. M&Ms have recognizable "spokescandies" which appear in comical commercials; the most popular of these are the team of cynical and sardonic "Red" and happy and gullible "Yellow".M&Ms were created after Forrest Mars Sr saw Spanish soldiers eating chocolate pellets coated in sugar during the Spanish Civil War. By World War II, American soldiers were given the candy by the United States Army; soon after this it was marketed to the public.
In 1954, M&Ms Peanut Chocolate Candies were introduced. That same year, the M&M's brand characters and the famous slogan "The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand" were both trademarked.
The candies were originally made in six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, brown, and tan. (Peanut candies were made in the same colors, except tan.) Red was eliminated from the mix in the 1970s because of health concerns about the red dyes. By 1986, safer red dyes had been developed, and the red candies were reintroduced.
In the United Kingdom Peanut M&Ms were known as Treets until 1990. Additionally, Toffee Treets were also available for some time. The chocolate versions were not introduced until the brand became M&Ms. This was partly to do with the market dominance of the simlar candy Smarties which made competing under anything but a very high profile brand difficult, with the added risk of reducing sales of the exisitng Treets brand.
In 1993, Mars ran a promotion in which consumers were invited to vote on which of blue, pink, or purple would be introduced. Blue was the winner, and was added in early 1994. The tan candies were eliminated at this time.
Around the same time, novelty M&Ms were available in specialty stores, such as F.A.O. Schwarz, in 24 different colors.
In June 2004 M&Ms gained unexpected notoriety as Mike Melvill, the pilot of SpaceShipOne the world's first manned private suborbital space flight, opened up a package of the chocolate brand when he reached the border of space (100km) in order to demonstrate weightlessness as the candy floated in the cabin.