Have you ever wondered how certain products get their names? Take M&Ms, for example. What do the two Ms stand for? The answer will surprise you – and you will probably remember this story every time you eat M&Ms in the future, just like you've noticed the arrow in the FedEx logo ever since someone first told you about it.
Last week my mother-in-law gave me a book titled "The Emperors of Chocolate," which tells the story of the Mars and Hershey chocolate companies. Naturally, when my bride of six months -- who is convinced that chocolate is one of the four main food groups -- heard that this week's story is about chocolate, she asked if this means that we will be going to Hershey, Pa., anytime soon.
But I digress. Mars was founded by Forrest Mars Sr. in 1920, while Hershey was founded by Milton Hershey in 1894. The two companies are bitter rivals that, together, control 95 percent of the candy market in the United States.
There are several interesting things about the Mars and Hershey chocolate companies -- and the entire chocolate industry, for that matter. For example, at Mars, they are so focused on quality that millions of M&Ms are thrown out every day simply because the Ms are not applied properly. Yet when Forrest Mars Jr. and his brother and sister were growing up in the 1940s, their father never let them eat M&Ms because he said they couldn't spare any of them.
Meanwhile, Milton Hershey founded the Lancaster Caramel Co. in 1890 and had turned it into the nation's largest caramel company by 1900. He was at the top of the business world when he sold it for $1 million that year. Before he sold it, he had already discovered the opportunity that chocolate presented him, so he founded the Hershey Chocolate Co. His chocolate company was the first one to sell its products nationwide. Within a few years, he had built an entire town that would later become known as Hershey, Pa,
Both founders had to get away from their fathers before they became successful. Hershey's first two companies failed after his father interfered by trying to get the son to expand too fast. Mars, on the other hand, was kicked out of his father's chocolate company when he interfered by trying to get his father, Frank, to expand his business. Both the elder Mars and the younger Hershey had failed in their first couple of business ventures.
But one of the more interesting stories about the Mars and Hershey chocolate companies is what the Ms stand for on the M&Ms candy.
The two companies are bitter rivals. The Mars Co. was run by Mars, while the Hershey Co. was run by Hershey's good friend, William Murrie, when Mars introduced M&Ms to the public in 1940.
It would make sense if M&M stood for Mars & Mars, which is what the Mars employees claim, but the truth is that one of the Ms stands for Murrie's son, Bruce. So, in reality, the brand name of M&M stands for Murrie & Mars. Or Mars & Murrie.
Why would Mars agree to name his hot new product after the son of the president of Hershey, his biggest rival?
The two companies were once dependent upon each other. Mars recruited Bruce Murrie to work for him, and it made sense at the time to offer to name one of the Ms after Murrie. Plus, Hershey helped Mars design some of its machines, and it was the vendor that supplied the Mars Co. with its chocolate.
You're still trying to figure out where the arrow is in the FedEx logo, aren't you? I'll give you a hint: It's between the "E" and the "x."
-- niemann7@aol.com
