The Society for the Restoration and the Preservation of the Red M&M
Industry thinks a plate of food has to look like a Picasso painting to sell
“[T]here has been ample evidence to ban the dye,” the Food and Drug Administration’s Jacqueline Verrett told reporters in 1976. “But industry thinks a plate of food has to look like a Picasso painting to sell—even if in the end what looks so colorful and good ends up killing you.”
By the mid-70s, Red Dye No. 2 (amaranth) was far and away America’s most popular food coloring. Cheap and effective, the additive had seemingly infiltrated every level of the country’s food supply, from fish to ice cream. The coloring made low quality foods presentable and appeared in drugs and makeup, with companies using more than one million pounds of the stuff annually by the middle of the decade.
But the coloring carried its share of controversy. In 1973, fellow coal tar-derived Benzyl Violet of FD&C Violet No. 1 was banned by the FDA, after a pair of Japanese studies linked it to cancer in rats. Two years prior, a Soviet study flagged its own issues with amaranth. The FDA refused to directly acknowledge the results of that research, owing to both less than ideal conditions for the study and its own tense relations with the USSR.
The FDA ultimately conducted its own studies, banning the dye in early 1976. The organization was quick to implore Americans that, "no evidence of a public health hazard” had been discovered, but barred the dye after links to cancer proved inconclusive. It wasn’t recalled outright – instead companies were allowed to work through the remainder of their supplies. "It is a charade to say it's safe to eat it now, but not a year from now,” lawyer Anita Johnson said of the decision.
In spite of its massive popularity, the was not present in the M&Ms of the era. The candy relied, instead, on Nos. 3 and 40 for its red variety. But Mars opted to discontinue the color entirely, over fears to a public, wary about carcinogenic concerns, would opt not to buy the stuff. Out of an abundance of caution, the color was unceremoniously replaced with orange.
Out of an abundance of boredom, Paul Hethmon founded an organization imploring the candy giant to bring back red. The Society for the Restoration and the Preservation of the Red M&M was founded in 1982 by the University of Tennessee freshman. With the Vietnam War in the rearview, student activism was on the ebb on college campuses across the country. ''There wasn’t that much to do at college,'' Hethmon would reflect. ''So I decided to start my organization.''
Thousands of letters had already poured in to the candy giant after discontinuing the color. They came from a wide spectrum of sources, including World War II soldiers who had sought comfort in the candy while fighting over seas. Children wrote letters to the company, noting they had never seen the variety. “Something like that kind of gets to you,” Hethmon would later state. “It kind of chokes your heart.''
It was the student’s Society that was ultimately credited with turning the tides. What started as a single letter to the candy conglomerate gave rise to a letter writing campaign, as Hethmon received national press for his efforts.
The company took baby steps. Red M&Ms were included alongside the green variety in seasonal limited editions for the 1985 and 1986 Christmas holidays with little fanfare. Mars was testing the water, determining whether the world was ready for red after collateral damage from the previous decade.
In 1987, Hethmon was the first member of the public to be alerted of the color’s return. “I think I have some news you’ll be delighted to hear,” the company would write, sending him 50 pounds of red M&M for his troubles.
Eight years later, the company dropped the far less popular tan variety, in favor of blue with little incident.
Sources:
The story behind red M&Ms https://www.marketplace.org/2014/05/15/story-behind-red-mms/
F.D.A. Approves a Challenged Food Dye https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/19/archives/fda-approves-a-challenged-food-dye-fda-approves-use-of-a-food-dye.html
Once again, Candy lovers will see red http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,945520,00.html