M & M: Packs Of Fun For Everyone

The visual being analyzed is a M&M print advertisement created in 1985 by the Mars Inc. candy company. The advertisement is a cartoon including characterized M&M candies along with the two flavors of M&Ms and a slogan of “Packs of Fun for Everyone”. The advertisement can be labeled as pop art with many bright colors with cartoonish fonts. The M&M advertisement’s audience is aimed towards children to help persuade them to purchase the candy. Each of the individual M&M candies has a prop or personality which portrays that there is no specific person who can eat the candy. The main eye-catcher of the advertisement is the slogan of “Packs of Fun for Everyone” which is written is large, blocky letters that are colored in with green, yellow and
“In 1976, Mars, the candy company that makes M&M's, eliminated the red version of the candies from their mix. This decision came as a result of public controversy surrounding a synthetic dye called FD&C Red No. 2. The dye was used in red food coloring and was linked to cancer in a 1971 Russian study” (Melina). The red dye had been used to color various food products, such as hot dogs and ice cream, in the United States and with worry of safety, the government was demanded to confirm if the dye was actually harmful or safe to produce. With tests deeming that the red dye caused tumors in rats, the Food and Drug Administration concluded that the dye was unsafe for human consumption and banned the usage in 1976. “Afraid that worried shoppers would steer clear of M&M's altogether if the bags contained anything red, Mars removed the red candies from production and replaced them with orange M&M's” (Melina). As seen in the advertisement, there are no red M&Ms but orange M&Ms can be seen. The timeline of the red dye scare can be confirmed through the advertisement as the studies were conducted in 1976 and the advertisement was created in 1985. Once the situation with the red dye was resolved, Mars Inc. reintroduced the red M&M in
The main aspect can be seen through the usage of the word “Everyone” as the concept of inclusiveness is portrayed. The font of “Everyone” is the largest size font in the slogan. The word is double the size of the beginning of the slogan and is broken up into different lines by a hyphen. The illustrator created the advertisement purposely like this to exemplify their message. Mars Inc. wanted to make sure of the importance of allowing the audience to feel their brand is for all types of people. In the year the advertisement was published, which was 1985, equality was a main problem in the United States. “When the decade of the 1980s began, many Americans were hopeful that the era of strong racial tensions in American culture would be ending soon. However, Americans soon realized that although improvements had been made throughout the 1970s, racial problems and discrimination were still huge issues facing United States culture” (“A Time”). African Americans still did not receive complete respect and equality through certain groups of white Americans. Women’s rights movements rose heavily towards the capital of Washington DC regarding the wage gap and other social issues. “The 1980s seemed to be a backwards decade, in which the progress made in the 1970s was completely masked by the hate crimes and racial unrest that plagued the following decade” (Messer-Kruse).