In a recent Fox News segment no-one saw coming, an irate Tucker Carlson blasted M&M for swapping one of their characters' high heels for trainers, complaining that the look was "less sexy" and “deeply unappealing”.
With apparent dismay, Carlson lamented that "you wouldn’t want to have a drink with any one of them", adding "that’s the goal. When you’re totally turned off, we’ve achieved equity".
Confused and amused by the idea that anyone would be turned on by an M&M in the first place, the iconic cinema sweets quickly began trending, with a number of 'sexy M&M' memes doing the rounds. This included plenty of discussion as to what the two Ms in M&M actually stood for.
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Of course, there have been plenty of jokes on this front at Carlson's expense, with some suggesting the snack is actually called 'Men and M'ladies' or 'Motor Mouth'.
However, many were surprised to learn that M&M actually stands for Mars & Murrie, named after candy heirs and business collaborators Forrest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie.
Murrie was the son of Hershey executive William Murrie, while Mars was the son of Mars founder, Frank C. Mars.
After a fall-out with his father in 1932, Mars headed to England where he started manufacturing Mars bars for the troops, as per History.com. During this time, he noted volunteers eating small chocolate buttons with a hard sugar shell coating to prevent melting.
Interested in developing a product that could be transported in high temperatures, upon his return, Mars approached Murrie with an idea for a new business venture. The rest, as they say, is history.
Early M&Ms were first distributed exclusively to US troops, who praised the hardy sweets once back home. In the decades that followed, M&Ms would become one of the most popular treats in US history.
Surprised by this lesser-known full name, one M&M fan tweeted that they were "always learning" after finding out about the names and history of the founders.
Another wrote: "After eating M&M's for so many years, I just discovered from #Wikipedia that one of the m's stands for Mars, and the other one stands for Murrie. To me, it stands for marvelous, and magical".
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