Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 31, 1993 TAG: 9303300228
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LENA WILLIAMS THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Well, cheer up Kermie! It seems Miss Piggy isn't the only one who finds green alluring.
For centuries, the color green has been associated with fertility and healing. Kipling wrote: "Anything green that grew out of the mold was an excellent herb to our fathers of old." In the Amazon, dark green leaves, called jambu, are regarded by natives as an aphrodisiac. The eggs of green sea urchins from Maine are said to be another potent turn-on.
Then there is the somewhat dubious legend of the green M&Ms. Across the country, the young and the hip, especially in California, where kooky ideas always seem to originate, have been gobbling up green M&Ms, contending they act as some sort of modern-day aphrodisiac.
"The first time that I heard about the myth was in sixth grade," said Bev Reichard, an 18-year-old Los Angeles native who is a freshman at Boston University. "But it wasn't until I got to college that I discovered for myself that it was true."
Elias Bachman, a freshman at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, said: "I think it's a psychological thing. The more you believe, the better your chances of getting lucky."
Wendy Jaffe, a 31-year-old lawyer, said she first heard the myth about green M&Ms in the 1970s from girlfriends who claimed to have picked out the green ones to give to lovers or objects of desire. Jaffe decided to test the powers of the candies for herself a couple of years ago.
She won't say what happened, but in March 1992, Jaffe quit her $70,000-a-year job as a Santa Monica lawyer and started Cool Chocolates Inc., a company that began manufacturing the Green Ones, M&Ms-like candies selling for $4.95 for a 6.9-ounce jar to $25 for a 69-ounce jar.
Jaffe said the Green Ones were selling well until the M&M/Mars Co., the Hackettstown, N.J., candy maker, sued Jaffe. It claimed trademark infringement, noting among other things, that the characters on the packages bore a striking resemblance to the familiar M&M trademarked cartoon figures.
Last December, Judge Garrett Brown Jr. of Federal District Court in Trenton, approved a settlement. Both sides agreed not to disclose specific terms, but Jaffe said the court ruled that she would have to change the name of her product to stay in business.
"The court believed the name the Green Ones could confuse the public into thinking that the product was linked with Mars Inc.," said Jaffe. "I can still sell them. I just can't use the name on the packages."
As a result, Jaffe was in New York City recently promoting her candies, now called Greenies and sold in new packages. She said the company sold 7,000 pounds last year, but 8,000 pounds just between last Christmas and Valentine's Day.
She added that the publicity generated by the green-candy myth has some mothers across America nervous, so they're plucking out green M&Ms from the multicolored lot, just in case their little ones get some wrong ideas.
Outrageous tales about the multicolored candy-coated chocolates have been circulating since M&Ms were first introduced to the public in 1940, Mars officials said. But they added that legends about the green ones were new to them. Hans Fiucynski, who retired last year as external affairs director at Mars, said:
"My own kids used to play a game that if the last one out of the bag is a red one, you make a wish on it and the wish will come true. Then there's the one that if the last one out of the bag is yellow, you don't have to go to work that day. I don't think a lot of people called in sick using that one."
Plain M&Ms are made in six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, tan and dark brown. Peanut M&Ms come in dark brown, yellow, red, green and orange.
"We tested various colors and blends, but they don't always look appetizing or appealing," said Jim Conlan, who succeeded Fiucynski. "When it's all said and done, we go back to consumer preference and they seem to like those basic colors."
Mars officials said the company took legal action against the Green Ones because they felt the name, reputation and "wholesome image" of M&Ms was being impugned. "M&Ms are an American institution that's become a part of our everyday lives," Conlan said.
Jaffe conceded that M&Ms inspired her product, but added that the theory about green and its amorous affects doesn't apply just to M&Ms. "I've heard people say the same thing about green jelly beans and Gummi Bears," she said.
by CNB