M&M’s is a brand of Mars Inc. Multi-colored candies are produced by the M&M Candies division. Bright candy quickly gained popularity. Many tried to make similar sweets, so the company added the letter “M” to the candies and used the slogan “Look for “M” on every piece”. Mars Inc. claims that they were the first candy that went into space when M&M`s were chosen by American astronauts in 1982.

Meaning and History

Forrest Mars saw glazed sweets that do not melt being carried by Spanish soldiers. He liked the idea and “invented” similar candy after returning from Europe to the USA. Mars teamed up with Bruce Murier (son of the chief executive of the Hershey company) and launched M&M’s in 1941. The name came from the first letters of their last names. It was not changed even when Mars bought out the partner’s share and became the sole owner of the brand.

What is M&M?
M&M’s are multi-colored small chocolate-coated candies manufactured by Mars Incorporated. In addition to peanut and chocolate candies, the company has released candies with more than 50 flavors during its existence.

1941 – 1954

The logo simply stated the brand’s name. Thus, the way it was written was quite important. It featured to large lowercase letters “M” done using a classic typeface with serifs. The “&” sign was placed between them and was slightly lower than the two letters. An apostrophe and a small uppercase letter “S” followed next. The brand played with uppercase and lowercase letters as well as their size, which made the wordmark quite unique. It was done in black.

1954 – 1971

The company kept the original idea of large lowercase “M”s. However, this time, it looked like they were handwritten with rough edges and not so straight lines. The “&” sign along with the “S” at the end were much thinner and no longer aligned at the bottom. Such change along with the switching to a yellow color for the letters and black background made the main letters stand out.

1971 – 1988

The company kept the idea of thicker lines for the main letters and thinner lines for the signs and the “S”. The wordmark got a clean, printed look, which made it look more professional. The letters also looked shorter. Moreover, the company abandoned the bright yellow color and black background introduced earlier and switched to a dark brown.

1988 – 2001

The updates made in 1988 did not change the look of the logo much. The brand kept the original idea and played with the thickness and color of the letters once again. The brown color got noticeably brighter. All the letters and signs looked thicker and the “&” sign along with the “S” were shorter. The two large “M”s were drawn closer together, but otherwise, the wordmark closely resembled the previous version.

2001 – 2004

All the letters looked even shorter, although the font style was kept the same. The two “M”s were printed even closer together, so the “&” sign was slightly overlapping both of them. The brown color now had more red in it. Moreover, every element of the logo had a white highlight on top and the right side, which gave it a 3D feel. The updates were not significant, so the brand image looked very recognizable.

2004 – 2018

The company wanted its logo to look more interesting, so it printed the emblem with the right end being higher than the left. An addition of a white background with a brown outline and shadow that contoured the whole logo made it look like it was a sticker. The letters were chocolate brown with a darker gradient at the bottom. It kept the 3D effect by adding a dark shadow instead of a highlight. The new spin on the familiar logo definitely made it more eye-catching.

2018 – Today

The update introduced in 2018 was the most minimalistic compared to what was done before. All the brand has done was switch the color to an even darker shade of brown. The logo reminded of the original black version of the logo.