Monday, July 13, 2009

My favorite T-shirt

I personally keep M&M/Mars in business. Really.

A few years ago I saw a T-shirt in the mall that I still beat myself up for NOT buying. It said:

Wheat for Man.--D&C 89:17
Chocolate for Woman.--M&M 24:7

Today Spencer sent me this. He was in an extremely interesting WebEx meeting at the time:

M&M's, one of the most popular candies in the United States, were originally an import from England called Smarties. Forrest Mars Sr. saw soldiers during the Spanish Civil War eating chocolate pellets that were coated in sugar to prevent chocolate from sticking to their fingers.
After the rights were purchased by Americans Forrest Mars Sr. and R. Bruce Murrie in 1939, they had to reintroduce them to the domestic market with a different name because there was already a candy product sold in the U.S. under the name Smarties. To identify their new brand, they combined the first initials of their last names: M & M. M&M's were first sold in the United States in 1941. By World War II, American soldiers were given the candy by the United States Army because they were a convenient snack that traveled well in any climate; soon after this it was marketed to the public. M&M's soon became a hit because, in those times when air conditioning was not usually found in stores, homes, or the automobile, melting chocolate candy bars were a problem; but with M&M's, the candy's coating kept the chocolate from getting messy.


Bottom line: Who cares? Just keep 'em coming!

2 comments:

T said...

I actually knew that about M&Ms and Smarties because when we were living in England, we couldn't get M&Ms in the local shop but we loved Smarties. They are a little bit larger in size, though. Mmmm...between the two of us we keep them in business!

wjmom said...

Funny, T, because I couldn't remember who told me about Smarties. Must have been you!