M&M’s are commonly used as candy, but are they really?

M&M's (named after the surnames of the company founders Mars & Murrie[2]) are dragee-like â€Å"colorful button-shaped candies†[1] produced by Mars, Incorporated. The candy shells, each of which has the letter â€Å"m† printed in lower case on one side, surround a variety of fillings, including milk chocolate, dark chocolate, crisped rice, mint chocolate, peanuts, almonds, orange chocolate, coconut, pretzel, wild cherry, and peanut butter. M&M's originated in the United States in 1941, and are now sold in over 100 countries. [1] They are produced in different colors, some of which have changed over the years. The difference between the different colored M&Ms is the dye added to the outer coating. In July 2006, Dark Chocolate M&M's reappeared in a purple package, followed in 2007 by Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's. Also in 2006, the company piloted White Chocolate M&M's as a tie-in with their Pirates of the Caribbean promotion. The company also offered eight new flavors of M&M's via online sales, as well as at M&M's World locations: â€Å"All That Razz†; â€Å"Eat, Drink, & Be Cherry†; â€Å"A Day at the Peach†; â€Å"Orange-U-Glad†; â€Å"Mint Condition†; â€Å"AlmonDeeLicious†; â€Å"Nut What You Think† and â€Å"Cookie Minster†. Mars also released a â€Å"Crispy Mint† variety in Australia that year. [citation needed] Also in 2006, M&M's became the official chocolate of NASCAR. In 2007, M&M's introduced a limited-edition raspberry flavor called â€Å"M&M's Razzberry Chocolate Candies. â€Å"[citation needed] Also in 2007, M&M's produced a 50-foot, smiling Lady Liberty M&M statue to kick off a campaign encouraging Americans to create their own M&M characters at mms. com. The website allows for people to log in and create their own character from scratch. They choose everything from the color and shape to hair and accessories. During the 2008 Valentine's Day season Mars introduced bags of all-green M&M's. This was due to common urban folklore that holds green M&M's to be an aphrodisiac. [20] They were brought back for Valentine's Day 2009 alongside the â€Å"Ms. Green Heats Up Valentine's Day† contest. In 2008, two new limited-edition varieties of the candy were introduced – â€Å"Wildly Cherry† M&M's, and, as a marketing tie-in with the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, â€Å"Mint Crisp† M&M's. [citation needed] M&M's also introduced another new product called â€Å"M&M's Premiums† in 2008. They come in five flavors – chocolate almond, mint chocolate, mocha, raspberry almond and triple chocolate (milk, dark, and white chocolate), which are sold in small upright cartons with a plastic bag inside. M&M's Premiums do not have a candy shell, but are coated with carnauba wax and color. Dark Chocolate was added in 2009, replacing Mocha. [citation needed] During summer of 2008, My M&M's launched ‘Faces,' which allows consumers to print the faces of loved ones on M&M's chocolate candies. citation needed] In January 2009, three new â€Å"shimmering† colors were added to the list of custom printable colors. The colors in this collection have a pearlescent finish. [21] In February 2009, M&M's launched â€Å"M&M’S Color Break-Up† Promotion in Australia where colors were sold in separate packs (one for each color): the packs included a code to win prizes. [22] In S ummer 2009, M&M's launched a limited-edition â€Å"Strawberried Peanut Butter† variant to tie in with the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. In addition, M&M's launched a limited edition â€Å"Coconut M&M's. † In July 2009, a study showed that a dye similar to that in blue M&M's showed benefits in helping paralyzed rats to walk again. [23] In April 2010, M&M's launched a new â€Å"pretzel variety. † Pretzel M&M's do not have any yellow M&M's. [24] In early 2010, M&M's Bare All were released as part of a competition in Australia and New Zealand. [25] M&M's Bare All winning packs were ordinary M&M's, but without shells (and hence had no colours). An official website, http://m-msbareall. com. au/, was launched, along with television advertisements. [26] About the time pretzel M&M'S came out, the M&M'S wrapper designs in the U. S. were redone, from the old design, used from 2004-early 2010. Almond, Dark chocolate, and Dark chocolate peanut are currently only available in larger sizes. For Spring 2011, M&M's are available in milk chocolate â€Å"Spring Pastels. † The colors are all lighter and come in yellow, pink, purple, blue and green. On them, the M is blue and some feature ei ther a blue duck, sheep head, or bunny ears and face with the eyes a blue letter M, which is slightly smaller. They were created so that little shell that contains them enables them to â€Å"Melt in your mouth, NOT in your hand! â€Å"