The idea for M&M's was during the Spanish Civil War. Mars went on a trip to Spain he saw some solders eating small chocolate balls that had a coating of sugar to prevent them from melting. Mars went back to the United States and invented the M&M's and started the MARS Company.
The original M&M's were sold in cardboard tubes during World War II. The American Gls carried them as a snack because they wouldn't melt in any climate. After they became so popular with the soldiers they became available to the public around the 1940's.
During the 1950's M&M's grew rapidly through television. New kinds of M&M's were created including the peanut, and the Mars company was making huge profits. Later in that year the slogan that is still used today was introduced into television commercials, "melts in your mouth, not in your hand." The M&M brand characters were introduced in 1954. .
The first and only color was originally brown. In 1906 the colors red, green, and yellow were added to the package. The M&M characters started to appear on the packages and television commercials. The color orange was soon added to the M&M peanut candies. During the same year that orange was introduced red also became a new color. But because of the issue of the specific food coloring, the color red was taken from the package. .
M&M's popularity kept growing from year to year and was chosen by the first space shuttle to be a part of their food supply. M&M's are on display at the National Air & Space Museum in D.C. During this time M&M's expanded into Europe and different colors were created for specific holidays. One of the seasonal holiday blends included Christmas so red was brought back because of the demand for it to come back. .
The M&M's characters were such a huge hit that they started to pass Mickey Mouse and Bart Simpson in popularity. It wasn't until 1997 that the green M&M character was created. This was a big event since it was the first female M&M.