M&M - What Comes after Blue
The candies were originally made in six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, brown, and violet. (Peanut candies were made in the same colors, except violet.) In 1949, Violet was taken out of the mix and was replaced by tan. Red was eliminated in 1976[1] because of health concerns about the red dye amaranth (FD&C Red #2), a suspected carcinogen. Despite the fact that M&M's did not contain the dye, red M&M's were removed to satisfy worried consumers. By 1987, the public had forgotten the scare, and the red candies were reintroduced. They currently contain Allura red AC (FD&C Red #40). In 1995, tan was replaced with blue.
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 with the removal of tan, it was added in early 1995.
Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/m-m-s
Comments
It was a brilliant marketing move by M&M and time to do it again--determine a new color to add...or do a full bag of just pink M&M's and make donations for breast cancer research.
Posted by: Kim Barrington | January 4, 2007 11:54 PM