Necco candies may be the oldest candies in America that are still in production, but M&M is now one of the most famous candies.M&M’s candies started their journey as just chocolate candy with a colored hard outer shell. Now, the colors and flavors have both expanded.The original M&M candy had and still has a soft chocolate center and finally a candy shell that is adorned with various colors. M&M’s chocolate candies gained such popularity that in the beginning, they didn’t need to go to large advertising companies; word of mouth was enough to skyrocket their sales. The colors of M&M’s original candies were red, purple, green, brown, and yellow and the first variation of flavor was only chocolate. The colors have changed now, along with flavors. Now, some other variations of the classic flavors of the candy are milk chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut, almond, peanut butter, crunchy mint, peanut coated milk chocolate, mega peanut, and more. Some funky ones are pretzel, birthday cake, and fudge brownie.Read on to know more about the original M&M colors and if you like this article, then also check out children’s books from the 90s and moral values.All Colors Of Original M&M From 1941In 1941, when Forrest E. Mars Sr. created the M&M we know today, the candies came in only five colors and only one flavor. They launched M&M’s chocolate candies in a plain chocolate flavor coming in red, purple, green, brown, and yellow.More colors, like the orange, tan, or blue M&M candies, came into existence quite a few years after the originals, while colors like purple and tan have been discontinued as of now. Even the red candies were discontinued for a while!After quite a few changes over the years, blue candies replaced the purple ones, and M&M’s added orange-colored candies. Interestingly, brown candies are known as the rarest M&M color.History Of Why M&M Was CreatedThe M&M was created by Forrest Mars in 1941. He created the company along with the candies by getting inspired by the British candies that, to this day, are called Smarties.The establishment of the M&M company dates back to when Frank C. Mars told his son, Forrest Mars Sr., to go abroad and learn the ways of business. While abroad, Forrest Mars Sr. saw British soldiers munch on pill-sized, small candies. When he came back, he took over from his father and teamed up with Bruce Murrie. Bruce Murrie was the son of William Murrie, a candy magnate and the president of Hershey’s. The two ‘M’s in M&M are the initials of Mars and Murrie.In the beginning, their consumers were only in the US. armed forces. Gradually, they grew popular with the public and have made their names in the news again and again, like the time when they were taken into orbit on the Columbia space shuttle in 1981 or when they were declared as the official snack for consumers in 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.Sometimes, the company does release special candy colors for special occasions, like to commemorate the 2014 FIFA World Cup, peanut M&Ms were released in blue, yellow, and green. During Labor Day, Memorial Day, or Independence Day, they release blue, white, and red candies in the United States. We’re guessing they don’t use dye or food coloring for these white M&Ms as they use for all the other ones. During Christmas, you can get bags of only red and green colors, or during Easter, you can get pastel colored.What color M&Ms were discontinued?In 1941, when M&M was first established, they started with five colors. Among them, the purple candies were discontinued a few years later. The red candies were also discontinued but made a comeback a few years later.In 1949, M&M discontinued the purple candies for unknown reasons, and they started the tan candies. You won’t find all the rainbow colors as there is no purple. In 1976, the red candies also got discontinued. A Russian study that came out in the early 1970s said that the red colored food dye, amaranth, was in a way linked to cancer in humans. This was never really proved, but just to be cautious, the Food and Drug Administration banned the substance. However, in 1982, the Society for the Restoration and Preservation of Red M&M’s was created by Paul Hethmon. This resulted in the comeback of the red candies in 1987. Till 1987, you could only find five colors of original M&Ms, but after the comeback of the red candies, they started selling six colors.During 1976, when the red candies were discontinued, M&M started the orange candies as their replacement that can still be found today. During the mid 1990s, people were asking to bring back the purple candies again, and additionally, Mars thought that having both tan and brown candies was not needed in their mix. Hence, the company decided to discontinue the tan candies. To introduce a new colored candy as a replacement for the color tan, they held a vote and let the fans choose between the three colors, blue, purple, and pink. More than 10 million people voted overall, and about 54 percent of them voted for the blue color as a new color in the mix. Fun fact: the mid-90s, especially the year 1997, also saw the introduction of the popular Nerds rope gummy!Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for what were original M&M colors? curious candy facts that kids will adore then why not take a look at what animals sweat? never heard facts on sweat glands for kids!, or oral hygiene quest: what animal has the cleanest mouth?
Necco candies may be the oldest candies in America that are still in production, but M&M is now one of the most famous candies.
