M & M stands for candy coated pieces of milk chocolate with the letter M printed on them. The candies are a Mars Incorporated production. M & M has gained popularity in the United States and many other countries. There are numerous variations of the candies which include milk chocolate, peanut butter, dark chocolate (they come with and without peanuts), mint and almond. However, not all varieties are available worldwide.
The colors of the candies were originally violet, yellow, brown, red and green when they were first produced in 1941. Violet was replaced with tan in 1949 but blue replaced it in 1995; orange was introduced in 1976. Other colors includes white, cream, gold, maroon, dark pink, pink, light purple, light blue, dark blue, teal, aqua, electric green, dark green, black, silver, shimmer golden, shimmer platinum, and shimmer pearl. The “shimmer” colors have a pearlescent finish giving them a sparkling appearance.
The idea for the confection came about during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s when the founder of the Mars Company, Forrest Mars, Sr. observed soldiers eating chocolate pellets with a hard shell of tempered chocolate surrounding the inside, preventing the candies from melting. A few years later Mars received a patent for his own process in 1941and began production in the same year in a New Jersey factory.
The M & M represented the owners of the company. One M was for Forrest E. Mars Sr., and the other M was for Bruce Murrie, son of long-term Hershey president William F.R. Murrie. Murrie invested 20% in the company. The agreement was that the candies must be made with Hershey chocolate. When operations commenced, the hard-coated chocolates were made in six different colors: brown, yellow, orange, red, green and violet. They were served in a cardboard tube (similar to Smarties).
The expediency of the candies during World War II augmented production resulting in the factory being relocated to bigger quarters where they remained until 1958 when it relocated again to a bigger factory. In 1948 black cellophane packaging was introduced to replace the cardboard packaging and in the same year Mars bought out Murrie’s 20 percent stake. The Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City, Missouri who worked with M & M perfected a process whereby 3,300 pounds of chocolate centers could be coated every hour this happened in the early 1950s.
Peanut Chocolate Candies were introduced in 1954, while the M&M’s famous slogan “The milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand” and brand characters were both trademarked.