M&Ms ads - the 90s

A few weeks ago I posted a long and involved post talking about some of the evolution of M&M advertising on television. I encourage you to go read that post first. It was really fun writing the post since I got to parse through a ton of my favorite old M&M ads. Today I thought I'd follow up with the next part of the story and have a look at the more modern M&M ads of the 90s.

M&Ms themselves are really fascinating, and the ads have gone through a lot of changes over the years. But the 90s are characterized by some really dense advertizing. The M&Ms were becoming legitimate stars in their own right, and the advertizing and products went in a number of interesting directions. When last we left off the year was 1992 and M&M had just celebrated their 50th anniversary, and introduced both Peanut Butter and Almond varieties. And just to note the ads I'm really talking about here are all centered around the M&Ms characters, not the commercials with just humans :)

As I said, M&Ms were so popular now that they really seem to have had multiple ad campaigns running concurrently. In some cases you could still find old 80s style M&M commercials featuring M&Ms in pure cartoon settings.



But M&Ms also in the late 80s into the early 90s created a lot of commercials without their mascots entirely. I'm not sure if these were meant to appeal more to adults since they obviously at some point realized the true value of the mascots and basically stopped doing commercials without them, but its interesting nonetheless.

Additionally they made the big transition around this era. It was becoming more and more common to see the M&Ms interacting with real humans. And often not just any humans but celebrities.


That's Daisy Fuentes, model and MTV VJ.



And the incomparable Robert Pastorelli of Murphy Brown fame.

Also since I forgot to mention it earlier M&Ms started featuring Christmas and Easter seasonal bags in 1986. They had pastel colored seasonal M&Ms for Easter-time, and red and green for Xmas.

 

And...

 

Here's my absolute favorite Christmas one :)



Probably the next big innovation to M&Ms came in 1995 when they ran a campaign to vote on the next new color of M&M to be introduced.



The vote was actually to replace the tan colored M&Ms which were being discontinued. As you can see from the funny ads below featuring Wings star Steven Weber and the M&Ms the winner was a new favorite of mine, Blue.



And here's another funny one.



Interesting as far as I can tell Blue was not as of yet associated with a specific flavor, unless it was Almond. Its hard to determine exactly when that happened.Currently all of the different M&M colors are associated with certain flavors, but I don't think that was always the case.

Moving on though, in 1996 M&Ms decided to branch out again, this time with M&M minis.



These little guys have been giving Red and yellow a hard time ever since.Its funny, the Minis are kind of like a cross between a swarm of kiler bees and a crazed Looney Tunes character.

Here's a great example of the kind of pranks the Minis pull.



And I know this is skipping ahead a bit but I love these Mini commercials from the early 2000s as well and they fit into this same category :)



Yeah, of course Red rides the bus.



I LOVE this one. Talk about Looney Tunes!



And of course this is a great example of Red and Yellow just getting tossed around. Pretty typical stuff for the era.

Now it gets a bit tricky around this part but by the late 90s both Ms Green and Orange had also been established as M&M personalities. Unlike Blue these were soft and ongoing changes to character since both colors had been around for quite a while.

Starting with Green, lets have a look at some of her early appearances. She is of course the first woman M&M and they really played up the sexy angle. I mean A LOT.



She's also always had a real air of celebrity to her.



Was that inappropriate? I'm honestly not sure how to take it. Now I know this one is from much more recently, but how about this...



And then of course there's this one final one, my personal favorite.



Now that's pretty funny.

When Green was introduced she was associated loosely with Dark Chocolate, but now she reps for Peanut Butter, Mint, and Coconut. Although with that I have to wonder why Orange isn't on Peanut Butter anymore?

Orange on the other hand is the neurotic part of the M&M gang. He got a personality pretty early on but it wasn't until the introduction of Crispy M&Ms in 1999 that he found a calling and got his own full ad campaign. Here's a great ad with Orange and Halle Berry.

 

Love it. This guys always cracked me up and I wish they would've found more for him to do in those early days. While I liked Crispy M&Ms (they were discontinued Stateside in 2005) after the initial burst there wasn't much advertizing support for them. And so it wasn't until Pretzel M&Ms came along much later that Orange got a chance to shine again. For now though lets look at a few more ads featuring Orange from the late 90s.



Talk about neurotic.



That's another really fun one. And finally lets have one with your friend and mine Patrick Warburton.



Oh Puddy...

As the M&Ms launched into the 2000s they were of course the official spokescandy of the  Millenium. And yes they may have been a bit early on it...



And what do the M&Ms get paid anyhow?



Oh Red and Yellow... you really can't help but love these guys. By this point they've fully developed the Laurel and Hardy routine and are just riffing some great jokes.

And once the M&Ms got into the new Millennium properly things got even bigger for them. While other companies like MacDonalds the cereal companies had tougher and tougher times selling the public on their cutesy characters, M&Ms simply didn't. Their focus on fun, and funny irreverant evolving humor made them stand out and become even bigger stars that any reasonable person would've thought possible. These guys are up there with the biggest spokespeople in the world, and its great to see how they continue to work in a modern setting.

Next time we'll delve into the M&Ms megastardom of the 2000s. Until then, lets not forget how great the candy actually is. Great candy and some stellar advertizing. Its certainly a winning combination.

M&Ms ads - early years

A few weeks ago I posted some thoughts on those little candy mascots the M&Ms. When it comes to candy mascots there is literally none bigger. They showed up in the 50s and 60s but it wasn't until the 80s when advertizing went crazy that the M&M characters themselves started really taking over the entirety of the marketing. Still most of the ads you'll find for M&Ms are from the mid 80S onward. Of course, its not like there were VCRs around before the late 80s so that might be a factor too!

Regardless I thought I'd share some of my favorite M&M commercials with you here. This is by no means a complete list. And I'm not claiming to be any expert on M&Ms or the M&M characters. Like most of you out there I just really love the ads.

Here's a very early 50s ad for M&Ms

From Plain to Peanut. I love it. Swimming in chocolate and zipping up their "sugar" shells. This is the start of something awesome.

In these next two M&M commercials from the 70s they really play up the messiness angle.

Especially in that fist ad I have to say the chocolate mess is pretty gross. While I love the tag line of Melts in your Mouth and Not in Your Hand, I have to say I'm glad they abandoned this angle of marketing. Its not so pleasant to watch.

Jumping ahead again, in 1984 M&Ms became the official candy of the Olympic games (held in LA that year). This is the first time I can find that you really see the M&Ms as a group. A fun loving, partying group.

Doesn't it make sense to see them all together like that? I mean you get a whole bag full. And it works well for the Olympics. 

And then in mid 80s M&Ms got a bigger sized bag. Here are some fun ads for that :)

What I really like about these ads is this they really further develops the M&Ms as a community. They're much more cartoony, and they start to give the M&Ms themselves more of a story.

This next one was a favorite of mine as a kid.

I think this ad is really awesome, no only because the M&Ms all go on vacation with each other, but that they're such a rowdy fun group. I know they don't have their individual personalities developed much at this point, but there's something kind of awesome about having like 30 M&Ms in a big crazy group partying rather than just Red and Yellow on their own. This is what M&Ms were about back then, a family (or at least a fraternity) of candy. Shouldn't M&Ms be a fun loving party all the time?.

Here's another funny one from 1988. I love the way the process is imagined here. That they actually have to go swimming in chocolate and then shower in a candy shell is genius. This is also a good example of some developing personality for Peanut. Such a goofball :)

Tell me that's not a party! And very cutting edge stuff with that computer.

One of the things I always loved about these old M&M commercials that has been lost over the years is that these commercials were so wholesome. They were really family friendly. Now I think people expect different things from their advertising, but I'm nostalgic for these old comfortable ads.

In 1990 M&Ms celebrated their 50th Birthday. a long time for any candy to be around, and Its cool to see the M&M mascots right front and center for the party.

Then finally a breakthrough for M&Ms came in the early 90s. The introduction of   M&Ms Peanut Butter!

And while they'd had limited runs in before this 1992 also saw the permanent introduction of M&Ms Almond.

Finally, we'll end today's look at some old M&M ads with this one where the M&Ms themselves get nostalgic. I like the fact that they can reference their own history. It kind of brings the whole advertising campaign full circle. 

Talk about some enduring mascots, these guys have been though A LOT.

Next time we'll look at M&M ads in the 90s, through the refinement of their personalities and into the new millennium!

Chester Cheetah

It ain't easy bein' Cheesy....

Ain't that the truth! Today we're looking at the coolest mascot to grace the chip aisle, Chester Cheetah. Because information on the internet is totally apocryphal there are multiple origin stories for Chester's inception, but weather he came from an ingenious ad agency, or the mind of Hawley Pratt (creator of the Pink Panther) he has been  entertaining us in Cheetos ads since the 80s.

Chester is the epitome of cool. Sure he's cheesy, and honestly silly sometimes, but man is he also totally suave when he wants to be. I mean he's a cheetah in sneakers and sunglasses who just grooves along to his own beat all the time. How can you not love that?!

Don't know what Cheetos are? well they're puffed corn snacks flavored with powdered cheese of course. They are totally addictive, and a good change up from chips. Here's a classic Chester ad.

Get the picture now? So the gag with Chester is that yes he's a super cool dude, but he's also a bit crazy when it comes to Cheetos. Kind of in the way Sonny went Cuckoo over Coco Puffs, or the Trix Rabbit always lost it when he was about to eat some Trix cereal. Over the years he's varied in levels of silliness, but despite being portrayed as a bit of a buffoon sometimes, I think most people agree that this cat is pretty darn cool.

Lets look at the snack for a second though.

There have been a lot of different versions of Cheetos themselves over the years. And some of them are only available regionally. I know I was pretty disappointed when after recently moving from the States to Canada I realized that they don't seem to have either Flamin Hot Cheetos, or Honey BBQ Cheetos here :( This is the current lineup of Cheetos products that I can find easily in Canada.

Cheetos Puffs are the classic puffed corn snack you know and love. I expect these were the original Cheetos variety since I know I had these around since I was a really little kid. They are airy and light, and get cheese powder all over your fingers but man are they good.

If you want a bit more heft though. Cheetos Crunchy are the best of the best. Not as classic as the Puffs but honestly they are fantastic, and I personally prefer them to the Puffs. These things are insanely addictive too and if you haven't had them in a while I definitely recommend you go get some immediately!

Both the Puffs and the Crunchy varieties are the standards that you'll see everywhere. While there are and have been a number of other varieties over the years, here's what else I'm seeing currently on Canadian shelves.

For the health conscious out there (I suppose..) they've got Baked Cheetos Crunchy. Now I've never had these before, but I expect they're alright. What I don't understand though is that if you're actually caring about whether its baked or fried you probably should just stop eating them... right?

And Finally they've got this interesting variety that I wasn't familiar with before.

Cheese flavored popcorn is really a solid idea. I know I've always enjoyed it when I've had it before but I wasn't aware that there was a Cheetos variety out there. This is one I'd like to check out.

Back to Chester specifically though, the guy is always up to something. Even on the packaging I've shown you he's a pretty outlandish cartoon. I'm not sure exactly what flying a plane has to do with Cheese Puffs, but I don';t care: I'm going with it.

When they did a little revamping of Chester in the 90s they decided to start bringing him into the real world with some effects that honestly work very well. Kinda Space Jam-esque.

Chester had a few more great adventures through the 90s as his popularity grew. And this is where they dropped a lot of the bumbling Chester in favor of a simpler and cooler Chester.

You can see that he's a celebrity by '99 with the Daffy commercial.

From here into the 2000s Chester became even more interesting, because while they still advertized to kids, with things like this OrangeUnderground campaign, they also started making ads that appealed to adults.

The ads for adults started in the mid '00s and are more about skewing the status quo, bucking the system, and the little guy taking a small step to make their world  a bit more bearable. Its a very 00s sort of mentality. Very Fight Club. And Chester has taken on the role of the devil on your shoulder, encouraging, and nudging. Its very subversive and I have to say I love it.

Here's a classic ad that at least for me was the first time I was exposed to the beautiful Felicia Day.

A few other examples of this new and improved Chester Cheetah:

I have to say, this guy is pretty awesome. Sure a part of me wishes he still had a bit more of the fun loving 90s silliness, but I also like how much Chester is all about messing with the system. I mean who doesn't relate to this stuff?

I know I skipped over his terrible video game and a few other little things, but that's ok. If you weren't familiar with Chester Cheetah before I sure hope you are now. The guy is legendary, and the snacks are great. I'm excited to see where Chester goes next.

Chester Cheetah is of course a mascot for Frito-Lay Cheetos. For more on all things Cheetos and Chester you can visit them online http://www.cheetos.com/

M&M Musings

Today I thought we'd take some time out of our bust schedule and talk shop a bit about your favorite candy mascots and mine the M&Ms.

Now why it has taken me so long to write a basic post on these iconic mascots is beyond me. Perhaps its all just a bit daunting, I mean when you're talking big league candy mascots they simply get no bigger than the M&Ms. Also the M&Ms have such a history to them, I'm not talking just academically here, I'm talking on a deep personal level I have strong emotions and memories of the M&Ms from my youth. Where do you begin when you're talking about a brand mascot, a whole series of brand mascots who so dominate the playing field that others are, I think, scared to even get out of the gate?

Well, for me I thought I'd talk a bit today about the M&Ms themselves. Why does it even work? You've got a great little chocolate and candy confection, I mean I think we all know plain, or 'milk chocolate' M&Ms as they are now called, are really fantastic,  but why do you even think to put arms and a face on them for the marketing? I know there have been a lot of food mascots over the years, heck even Wikipedia lists the Quaker Oats Man going back to 1877, But I have to think it wasn't until Mr Peanut came along in the 30s that people really got to see a mascot that was made of his own product. More often than not you had some associated person, or cuddly cartoon animal hocking your wares, think Toucan Sam, or the Jolly Green Giant. Other than a few exceptions like Twinkie the Kid, or the McNugget Buddies anthropomorphic food trying to get you to eat it (or not in some cases) is generally shied away from.

Now the M&M characters first appeared in the 60s, and I know that this reference wasn't written until 1980 but doesn't the whole thing smack  a bit too much like that great scene in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe where they Meet the Meat (watch the clip on YouTube here). This is either some very clever or some very morbid marketing at work. But what really amazes me most is that no one seems to notice it?!

Although there is definitely a weird morbidity to the entire prospect, the awesome thing is that there's no denying how effective these little guys are! I'm not here to regurgitate Wikipedia to you, there is more than enough info there to keep you occupied, but I do want to say that the very fact that these guys exist, and that they are so great at keeping me interested in M&Ms is a real testament to an enduring concept, and some great marketing execution.

And since the late mid 90s these characters have also really evolved into something fascinating that no other candy company can claim. They are unique as candy mascots that are recognized all over the world. they also have distinct personalities, an basic character plot lines in their specific ads. And because (basically) each one is associated with a specific flavor of the candy, fans can have their favorites. People connect with them, and care about them. That is branding gold and something you have to commend.

Some of my fondest memories from being a kid are browsing through my comic books, or flipping the tv on and watching the great advertising.  Seriously, I really have always loved good advertizing. And M&M ads were, and still are always a ton of fun.

Next time we'll get more into the advertizing specifically, but I thought it best to start with the real heart of the ads first. These guys are what makes the M&M ads tick, and I'm very glad they're around.

Check out even more on the M&Ms with these reviews:
M&Ms Peanut review
M&Ms Coconut review
M&Ms Mint review
M&Ms White Chocolate Peppermint review

Humpty Dumpty

Obscure? Maybe to some. For me though Humpty Dumpty has always been an egg I noticed on the shelves of my chip aisle. Why? Well maybe its the weird positioning... I mean why exactly is an egg selling me potato chips? Shouldn't it be a potato? And probably more importantly, something about the character always kind of frightened me, he is a talking egg after all!

Today on the Candy Aisle we'll continue our look back at a few fun mascots with another dose of chips. This time its Humpty Dumpty potato chips. These were sold across Canada, and through lots of New England over the 80s and 90s. As the name implies, their mascot was a cartoon version of Humpty Dumpty.

Here's how Humpty Dumpty looks today. Not really much changed since my earliest memories of him as a kid. Why people always insist on giving Humpty Dumpty a bow tie is below me... I mean doesn't the guy have enough problems already looking like a mad science experiment... not to mention the whole breaking into pieces thing.

And here's the product line today in Canada. A bit off the wall, and not actually hitting the potato chip market directly anymore Humpty Dumpty now sells party mixes and those weird other things you see in the chip aisle but never actually buy.

According to the wiki, while Humpty Dumpty started out as a company from Maine in the late 40s it became best known as a Canadian brand in the 90s after it was sold to a company based in Kitchner Ontario. They are mainly seen through New England and are famed to offer such off the wall flavors as sour cream and clam chips. In 2006 the company was sold again this time to Old Dutch, who at the time had a good presence in the west but not as much out east. Old Dutch decided to keep the Humpty Dumpty brand alive only relegated it to the "snack" section while Old Dutch chips took over all actual potato chip duties.

Here's a look at what I saw walking the aisle of their current product line.

 

well that'sdefinitely the kind of stuff I know I usually pass over at the store. Still I have to say theres a part of me that has a real soft spot for Humpty Dumpty. I mean the guy may look happy but hes just so down on his luck. He's happy, but we all know whats going to happen to him. And a precarious perch atop that lettering isn' the best place for him.

I'm sure the snacks are good, and I can't say I don't go in for some cheese puffs every now and again, but I'm not usually reaching for HD brand puffs. Not when there's a cheetah around.

Odd and interesting, you've got to check out these wacked out commercials for Humpty Dumpty products from back in the day. These are low-budget awesomeness!

AHH!!!! oh sorry, I just thought I saw a crazed monster appear in those people's homes and offer them chips. Oh wait I did! W-T-F!!! Seriously just WTF is this?!?! The fact that someone thought this wasn't totally tripped out just showed how crazy people were back in the late 80s and early 90s. I mean these commercials are bonkers. That Humpty Dumpty costume is absolutely terrifying!

But lets get away from the big scary monster. How about something a bit more normal?

Yup, those kids are totally normal.... right??? Like Children of the New England Corn normal! I am shocked and awed by these ads. I wish I could remember seeing any of these from my youth, but I expect they only ran in the States.

From my memory I liked Humpty Dumpty chips. They had flavors like Dill before it was popular, and they were the first chips I ever saw in "Fun Sized" at Halloween. These were also by default the chip that ended up at parties and in loot bags, and other giveaways. And I believe that even the original flavor was pretty good.

They may have changed over the years, but like I said I've still got a soft spot for good ol' Humpty Dumpty. The sad little egg that sells potato chips.

The Munchies

Today we're kicking off a look at some classic mascots. Since for some reason candy and chocolate bars don't have too many we'll also be looking at a few other tasty treats. Today we've got a Canadian classic, the Munchies.

Who are the Munchies? Well they were the long running mascots of Hostess potato chips here in Canada.  According to the wiki the chips were the #1 chips sold in Canada through the 80s, and I'd certainly believe that having lived here through the 80s, but once the 90s kicked in and upscale chips like Kettle Chips and Miss Vickis came around they couldn't compete. In '96 Hostess re-branded all of their chips as Lays here in Canada.

What got me thinking about this though was walking through my local grocery store and coming across what is apparently a limited run of Hostess branded chips. Are they testing the waters for a brand comeback? Here's a look at the chips and a glimpse of the current version of The Munchies.

Yup, those little guys are The Munchies, and boy do they get up to some shenanigans. In the commercials from the 80s they were always animated, often portrayed as celebrity superstars. Sometimes rocking out in a band. Yes they even play instruments.... I think there may have been a  little Chipmunks influence there.

Check out the rest of the current product line and you can see these crazy Munchies up to all sorts of silliness.

Are they still superstars, or just chefs? I suppose its a bit moot since they're only on the limited run, but I know I would love to see these guys come back in full force. Don't people want this kind of stuff? I think they do.

Their tagline was "When you've got the Munchies nothing else will do: Hostess Potato Chips" and you've got to see some of their commercials.

This next one is actually one of my absolute favorites.

And finally here's a last ad that is SO TOTALLY 80s you've got to love it.

As you can tell, totally awesome! I always loved seeing these little Hostess goblins (or whatever they are) on my chips and my tv. Here's hoping Pepsico makes a move to bring them back!

We'll look at another mascot next week here on the Candy Aisle so please stay tuned :)

Minor Mascots 1

There are a lot of great breakfast cereal mascots but surprisingly few candy related ones. Although considering the makeup of some of those breakfast cereals they could probably be considered candy. Regardless of that, in straight candy there are a few, just not as many as I think there should be,

Sure we all know the M&M crew, and the Nerds, but there are a few other players in the mascot arena that I thought we'd look at today. These guys are not the superstar mascots you may know, lets have a look at some of these minor mascots.

 Ok, so I suppose technically yes I have heard of Big League. But not Gumballs, Big League was always about shredded bubble gun. Amazing that it was ever sold, the gum was (and is) made to look like chewing tobacco, whihc baseball players loved back in the 70s. I've never seen Big League as a gumball before though. I think the brand has slowly faded since people probably don't even get the reference to chewing tabacco anymore. Maybe this gumball form factor is supposed to get them back in the game...

But check out that mascot. I don't know his name but he looks like what I imagine Dolph Lungren to look like when playing baseball. Speaking of which... why didn't anyone ever do that before? Dolph Lungren in a baseball movie would kill. This guy is all muscle and teeth. God look at those, they're just huge chompers. He probably east bubble gum exclusively, so has built up extra superhuman mouth muscles. And look at the shades. This guy is cool and he knows it. I mean he doesn't even take off his shades to hit the ball. Hey wait a second... is he about to hit the gumball? I just noticed that.Anyhow I love this guy. He's awesome and I want to buy whatever he's selling.

Double Bubble is even more of a classic than Big League Chew, but probably less exciting. Honestly I always thought of them as the poor mans Bazooka Joe. But its a Tootsie product that apparently comes in a variety of flavors. Here though it only comes up as original. At least the bag has 10% more to it. And for FREE no less!

So who is this cool dude on a skateboard, recklessly blowing a humungous bubble? That is Pud. At least I think its Pud. Yup... kind of a dopey name for kind of a dopey kid. I mean he's happy and all, but who could seriously blow bubbles especially huge ones like that while skateboarding. Seriously that is a health hazard. He could easily crash into something!

The one thing I'll give it is that at least this conveys something. At least I know that I'm getting some good gum for bubbles. Oh wait, I suppose "Double Bubble was a tip off there too.If you want to see a few of the Pud comics that they produced back in the day, that came with the gum, here's a link. Not super exciting stuff if you ask me though.I just think Pud is a dud.

I'll have some more Minor Mascots for you another day. Lets leave this for now. Question, would you rather buy gum from Dolph the ballplayer, or "cool kid" Pud the Dud. ? hocked by twins, and sugar crazed kids?

Personally I'd stick with Dolph, that guy is all around awesome.