M&M’s Launches Short Documentary, 'Protect the Peanut'

Complaints on the taste of Peanut M&M's are down 90 percent

In the early 2000s, complaints about the taste of Peanut M&M’s topped those for every other Mars product combined. That’s a lot of unhappy snackers. There was even a Reddit thread about the awful taste of the peanuts in M&M’s! The challenge was finding a way to protect the peanut from a bevy of diseases, pests and extreme weather issues—while maintaining the taste. The solution is documented in “Protect the Peanut,” a 7-minute documentary from BBDO Chicago. 

In the film, fans, scientists and farmers chat about the many issues peanuts are susceptible to—many we’d never heard of. Just 1 percent of peanuts grown globally meet the standards for M&M’s.

Play

The brand partnered with the University of Georgia, where scientists created breeds of peanut using traits from a wild peanut to create one that’s more resilient.

“For M&M’s, our pursuit of the perfect peanut led us to a much bigger challenge: securing its future,” said Amanda Davies, chief R&D, procurement and sustainability officer at Mars Snacking. “Making real progress took generational thinking, real investment, and years of work with farmers, scientists and partners—from the ground up, from soil to snack.”

Complaints about Peanut M&M’s are down 90 percent and the OG Redditors who initially flagged the bad taste gave the new peanuts a try.

M&M’s will invest $15 million into the project through 2030 and $12 million to farmers transitioning to new peanut varieties.

The documentary is running on M&M’s socials.