Chocolate lovers have been indulging in everything that M&M has put out in recent years. From their caramel chocolates to their peanut butter-flavored bites, people have fallen in love with the M&M brand all over again – especially after the brand updated their candy characters to be more woke amid the political climate of 2023. However, one TikTok user from London shocked candy lovers everywhere around the world when she took to the Chinese-created social media platform to reveal the true meaning behind what M&M stands for and how it is really all a bunch of “family drama.”
Claire Dinhut, the London TikToker, claims that M&M stands for Mars and Murrie. These people were famed chocolatiers and business collaborators named Forrest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie, who collaborated to create the candy-coated chocolates that have since been known as M&M’s around the world for every type of candy lover.
Both of the candy creators came from candy maker royalty. Bruce was the son of a Hershey executive named William Murrie, while Forrest was the son of Mars founder Frank C. Mars.
Now, the London-based TikTok user has unleashed a torrent of interest in the candy brand after making her claims about the name on social media owned by the Chinese platform. Her clip has since racked up more than 9,000 likes and counting.
Dinhut revealed that the story of M&Ms began after Forrest E. Mars had a falling out with his father, the original owner of the Mars candy brand. Forrest decided to go behind his father’s back and work with another candy maker to create something that Americans simply fell in love with.
“My most fun candy history fact is M&M, and why it is called M&M. Basically, there is so much family drama here, and it is so juicy; it is so good. The Mars company started before Hershey’s by this guy, and his son was really good at coming up with chocolate bars.”
Forrest then took a trip to Europe to research how other people around the world were eating their chocolate candies. He learned about a new trend across the pond where people were eating chocolate pieces coated in candy. He didn’t want to tell his dad about the idea, so he got to work by turning to his dad’s rival company, Hershey’s.
“He goes to Hershey’s, and he’s like, I am the son of Mars, but I don’t want to give it to my father; let’s just work together. The guy who is running Hershey’s, his last name is Murrie, he was like, sure, but you have to work with my son. So they worked together and created these little candies.”
When the two men had created their new candy, they decided to name it after themselves. So they called the candy-coated chocolates M&M’s, giving themselves credit for the invention.
“They called them Mars, like the first guy’s last name, and Murrie, the second guy’s last name, M&M.”
Dinhut added, “The reason it all popped off is they created it right before World War Two, and in World War Two, they made this deal with the government that in every soldier’s bag were M&M’s.”