Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 18, 1995 TAG: 9501190027
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sweet-toothed consumers began voting this week for the newest color to be added to the bags of coated chocolate drops.
M&M-Mars, based in McLean, is looking to spice up its 55-year-old candy to reflect the changing color preferences of the 1990s.
This is serious stuff in the candy business.
``Colors add fun and enjoyment to everybody's chocolate experience,'' said Pat D'Amato, spokeswoman for M&M-Mars.
Voters have until March 17 to pick up a ballot at any place they can buy the candy and register their preference - pink, purple or blue.
For traditionalists, there is a fourth choice on the ballot: Leave the colors alone.
The company will announce the winner April 18, and the new M&M's should be in stores by September, D'Amato said.
``I think it's just a great marketing gimmick,'' said Marvin Roffman, a food-entertainment industry analyst.
You want gimmick? People dressed in M&M costumes will travel the country over the next two months to promote the balloting. The pink, purple and blue M&M's will watch the Super Bowl, dance at Mardi Gras and cheer on runners at the Los Angeles Marathon.
The traditional M&M mix of brown, yellow, orange, red, green and tan candies has remained unchanged since 1949 - except for a decade-long leave-of-absence by the red drop, removed in 1976 because of what the company says was a misplaced concern over the food dye. Red returned in 1987.
M&M-Mars does make special different-hued mixes four times a year: Christmas, Valentine's Day, Halloween and Easter.
Roffman said M&M-Mars is using the new color campaign to try to recapture the confectionary market from the powerful Hershey Foods Corp.
Riding the popularity of new candies such as Hugs and Reese's NutRageous bar, Hershey's has grabbed control of 35 percent of the candy market, while M&M-Mars controls 26 percent.
Some expressed skepticism about the public's appetite for a blue M&M, partly because many people are repelled by blue food.
``They just find it to be nauseating,'' said Lisa Cunningham, an image consultant and instructor at the Parson's School of Design in New York.
But if the right color is chosen, it could enhance the aesthetic beauty of the mix already in the bag, said Cunningham.
``M&M's are warmer colors. A purple M&M should work very nicely,'' she said. ``The pink's not going to work because the pink is a cooler shade of red.''
by CNB