AW Throwback: The Debut of the Blue M&M

By Heather Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, PopIcon

Do you remember when a typical bag of plain M&M’s didn’t have blue candies inside it? The plain M&M’s colors were brown, orange, red, yellow, green, and tan up until the mid 1990s.

Yes, you read that last color correctly. Tan M&M’s existed until a 1995 vote to elect a new candy color in the lineup changed everything.

“Vote For The New M&M’s Color!”

Mars, Incorporated launched an election promotion to vote for a new M&M’s color in 1995. Four choices were on the ballot: blue, purple, pink, or no change. Consumers voted by calling the hotline number 1-800-FUN-COLOR.

The winning color was blue, which accounted for 54% of more than 10 million votes cast. (It would be 27 years before Purple joined the crew as an official M&M’s spokescandy in 2022.)

The tan M&M entered retirement with blue replacing it in the plain M&M’s lineup, and a series of commercials debuted to introduce the new Blue M&M.

In one of the first spots starring Blue, audiences see Blue dancing alongside another Blue M&M on stage. The creation of a second Blue M&M, shaped like Red since Blue is the same height as Yellow, appears to be done purely for the purposes of this specific ad. Red and Yellow want to snag the commercial gig and attempt to pass themselves off as Blue M&M’s with the help of some paint.

Since then, the Blue M&M has naturally fit in with the rest of the spokescandies. He’s revealed little-known truths about being an M&M to consumers, like how you must wade into the chocolate with a buddy instead of diving into the pool. (It’s for insurance purposes.)

But we do need to mention the moment when the M&M’s split up to pursue solo careers, and a campaign ran to reunite the spokescandies in 2011.

Blue enjoyed a brief stint during this time as a member of the Blue Man Group. He was born for that gig.

About the Author

Heather Taylor is the senior writer and editor-in-chief of PopIcon, Advertising Week’s blog about brand mascots. Got a pitch on brand mascots or want to wax nostalgic about characters? Drop her a line at howveryheather@gmail.com.