{"id":23458,"date":"2016-08-12T14:09:23","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T21:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=23458"},"modified":"2016-08-12T14:09:23","modified_gmt":"2016-08-12T21:09:23","slug":"friday-fun-whats-red-yellow-green-brown-75-years-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/12\/friday-fun-whats-red-yellow-green-brown-75-years-old\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Fun \u2013 What\u2019s Red, Yellow, Green, Brown & 75 Years Old?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you guessed M&M’s<\/em><\/strong> – you win!<\/p>\n

This year the Mars Candy Company<\/strong><\/em>, maker of M&M’s, is celebrating its 75th<\/sup> Anniversary in a big way – with many different options available to “Celebrate With M”<\/em><\/strong>.  But let’s take a look at its history and some fun facts.<\/p>\n

\"M&M_Promo-Logo_Celebrate-M\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s a fairly well known fact that M&M’s began their existence as an exclusive military ration – yep, ration<\/em><\/strong> – for soldiers during World War II at the government’s request.  And that’s because, as their slogan goes, “They melt in your mouth – not in your hand!”<\/em><\/strong>  Although that slogan actually wasn’t introduced until 1954 – the same year they introduced Peanut M&M’s.  (Trivia Tidbit<\/strong>: Forrest Mars – M&M’s inventor – was allergic to peanuts, so he never got to taste one of his Peanut M&M’s.)<\/em><\/p>\n

When the military contacted Mars about supplying the candy, they were originally packaged in cardboard tubes.  They were easier to ship, more durable to carry around and easier to pour and reclose out in the battlefield. <\/p>\n

\"M&M_Cardboard-Tube\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The cardboard tubes gained a large and loyal following with the GIs, but Mars didn’t switch over to the familiar brown bag until 1948.  And in celebration of their 75th<\/sup>, some stores now carry 12 different types of the retro-packaging (but I haven’t seen it).<\/p>\n

\"M&M_WWII-Ad\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But how did they actually come into being?  It all started back in 1911 when Frank C. Mars<\/strong> made his first Mars confections in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen.  Then in the 1920s his son, Forrest E. Mars, Sr.<\/strong>, joined his father in business.  But they had such a falling out that in 1932 Forrest moved to England to try going it alone.  On a visit to Spain during that country’s civil war, he observed soldiers<\/a> eating chocolate candies encased in a hard, sugary shell. <\/p>\n

Forrest Mars was well aware that chocolate sales always drastically dropped in the heat of the summer months – for obvious reasons.  And in addition to observing the Spanish Civil War soldiers enjoying their coated chocolates, when he got back to England he noted the British candy maker Rowntree’s of York <\/strong><\/em>had come out with Smarties<\/a>, a similar hard-shelled chocolate candies.  So borrowing both the inspiration and the actual product, Forrest Mars developed a manufacturing process for M&M's Chocolate Candies, moved back to the States, patented it, and in 1941 began making them in a factory in Newark, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

So what does M&M actually stand for?  Well, “Mars”<\/em><\/strong> would certainly be one of the Ms.  And the other is for “Murrie”<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

After Mars came up with his patent for M&M's, he approached Bruce Murrie<\/strong> who happened to be the son of Hershey’s Company<\/em><\/strong> president William Murrie<\/strong>, about a joint business venture.  Not only was Murrie good for the money, but he was also a strategic partner for Mars since Hershey’s had major control for the production of rationed chocolate<\/strong><\/a> during World War II.  And for the first few years M&M's were made using Hershey’s chocolate.  But Forrest Mars, as with his father, had another falling out, and so in 1949 Mars bought out Murrie<\/strong><\/a> for $1 million and took control of the company.<\/p>\n

Later, Mars moved his main manufacturing to its current site in Hackettstown, NJ in 1958 – and the plant is HUGE!  It encompasses over 460,000 square feet and its 1,500 employees produce about half of all the M&M’s made in America.  Two other plants (Cleveland, TN and Topeka, KS) make the rest.<\/p>\n

\"M&M_Factory-Hackettstown\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The New Jersey factory – the company’s largest – produces 2 billion M&M’s every eight hours … or more than 4 million made every minute … or 69,000 every second.  And it takes about 8 hours to make just one!  Most of the time is spent tumbling in the shell-coating vat where they are constantly sprayed for 5-7 HOURS. <\/p>\n