It’s Not Easy Being A Blue M&M — Or A Brown One, For that Matter

Perhaps we should have seen trouble coming for the blue M&M’s. They don’t exactly shout “health food.”

As candy maker Mars prepares an artificial dye-free version of M&M’s, blue is apparently the problem child. Of course it is. Blue has always been the drama.

Brown, meanwhile, is getting benched, too. Not because brown did anything wrong. Brown’s only sin is standing too close to blue.

In response to pressure from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, Mars is preparing dye-free alternatives for some of its best-known treats. The confectionery giant intends to swap synthetic colors for ones sourced from nature.

That is easier said than done when the color is blue.

Real Food Isn’t Blue

Natural blue replacements, including spirulina, are expensive and difficult to mass-produce. They also create manufacturing headaches. And because blue is used to give brown its depth, brown gets dragged into the mess.

Honestly, that tracks.

Blue has never really been a food color. Not a real one. Not in the way red and orange and yellow can show up in a grocery cart and mind their business. Those colors can be replicated with foods like beets and turmeric.

Sure, you can find blue food. Blue potatoes. Blue corn. Blueberries that are more purple, if we’re being honest. Maybe a blue tomato if you’re at a farmers market where someone is also selling handmade soap for $14 a bar. Blue cheese — or bleu cheese, if you’re being fancy — is doing something else entirely.

M&M’s In Pop Culture

In April, Mars gave blue a big shout-out with a limited edition launch of M&M’s All Cerulean, calling it the “chicest snack of the season.” Released to coincide with the premiere of “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” the candies were an homage to Miranda Priestly’s (Meryl Streep) iconic monologue in the original 2006 film, where she schools her assistant about her “lumpy blue sweater.”

Brown M&Ms had their own pop culture moment. In 2001’s “The Wedding Planner,” groom Dr. Steve Edison (Matthew McConaughey) said he only eats the brown ones because he figures, “They have less artificial coloring because chocolate is already brown.”

“That’s very scientific of you, Dr. Steve,” wedding planner Mary Fiore (Jennifer Lopez) responded.

That didn’t age well.

The Red Dye No. 2 Scare

This is not the first color crisis for the candy maker.

Red M&M’s were pulled from the mix in 1976 during the broader panic over Red Dye No. 2. Even though M&M’s reportedly did not use that dye, Mars removed the color to avoid consumer confusion and anxiety.

Red M&M’s returned in 1987, after a jokey but persistent campaign by University of Tennessee student Paul Hethmon helped revive public interest.

In 2016, Mars announced a five-year plan to remove artificial colors from its human food portfolio, including candy brands, finding at the time the difficulties surrounding blue. Mars eventually backed away from removing all artificial colors across the full candy portfolio after concluding U.S. consumers were not demanding the change

M&M’s Lovers Voted Blue

The now-jilted blue was added to the lineup in 1995 after the candy maker’s national “candy democracy survey” asking consumers whether tan M&M’s should be replaced by blue, pink or purple candies. More than 10 million votes were cast, and blue won with 54 percent of the vote.

Americans are ridiculously attached to M&M’s. Some are, well, bluer than blue over Mars’ announcement.

“The blue are my favorite, though,” someone lamented on Instagram.

“I remember everyone I know wanted blue, because somehow in our brains, blue meant unique and delicious,” someone else said on Reddit.

In a comment on a Delish Facebook post, one user recalled writing to Mars years before blue was added to the lineup.

“I felt left out since my favorite was blue,” the person wrote, continuing that she “wanted them to make up for all the bags bought without blues in them.”

“Damn,” someone responded, “I was the blue M&M for Halloween in elementary school when it was introduced!”

Not everyone minds, though.

“When I was a kid, the blue ones creeped me out so much that I picked them out and gave them to my mom,” a user said on another Reddit thread.

“Let’s start a ‘bring back tan’ campaign,” someone urged in a comment on Facebook.

Yes, But …

To be clear, the regular, artificial-color M&M’s aren’t disappearing. The blue-and-brown drama applies to the new dye-free bags, which are expected to arrive in August.

And people who don’t mind artificial dyes can still get their blue and brown M&M’s fixes. Regular M&M’s will still be fully available.

Mars said it intends to expand the dye-free line to feature all six signature colors — red, orange, yellow, green, blue and brown — naturally by 2028.

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