There’s an important election many of you will miss if you’re not paying attention. The polls open this month, but I’m not sure when they close.
I’m fairly confident you don’t need to register to vote, but in order to vote you must go to www.m-ms.com. Your vote may make all the difference in the world.
What issue are you voting on? You get to help decide whether the new M&M® color will be aqua, pink, or purple. I know which way I’m voting, but I don’t want to influence you, so I’m not telling.
Did you know that the original M&M’s® were first sold to the public during World War II? At the time they only came in the color brown. Television helped make M&M’s® a household word in the 50’s.
The colors red, green, and yellow were added to the original brown nineteen years after the little candies made their debut. In 1976, orange entered the color mix and red exited. A controversy about the harm of red food coloring forced the decision to eliminate red.
Holidays in the 1980’s presented opportunities to bring red back (with green) for Christmas and pastel colors for Easter.
The first public election for determining the new M&M® color was held in 1995. The candidates were blue, purple, pink, or no change. Over 10 million votes were cast. The winner, blue, got over half the votes.
This month purple and pink are once again on the ballot. Blue’s cousin, aqua, also wants to be your next choice. “No change” doesn’t seem to be on the ballot this time.
No matter how you vote, one thing is sure. There will be an additional color added to your comfort candy.
Candy isn’t the only comfort food affected by change this year. Barnum’s Animal Crackers can now be considered old. They turn 100. I’m sure if you were ever a child or a parent, you know the crackers I mean. I’m talking about the crackers that come in a little box dressed up to look like a circus wagon. The box sports a carrying string attached to help little hands keep the box of animal crackers from slipping away.
During its century of existence, the animal cracker family welcomed 53 different animals into its wagon. The assortment included monkeys, lions, tigers, bears, jaguars, and even hyenas. For some reason unknown to me, there’s never been a rabbit, however.
On this anniversary of the birth of animal crackers, you have another election to participate in. Nabisco is adding another animal to the menagerie and is asking you to decide which one it should be. The candidates in this election are the koala, the walrus, the penguin, and the cobra.
The election started already and, unlike human elections (which don’t tell which candidate leads until the polls are closed), the word is out that the cuddly koala is ahead. The penguin isn’t giving up, even though it is firmly in second place. The walrus is beating the cobra for third position.
Currently, the box houses seventeen other animals, including the lion, elephant, bison, one standing bear, and one sitting bear. If you don’t want bears to dominate, you may want to make sure you vote against the koala. But then you’d have to figure out how to bite the head and legs off the penguin.
You probably thought this election year wouldn’t loom large until fall. Now that you know there are two other elections that require your vote, make your decision; then vote early and often.
Years ago major companies paid large sums of money to marketing firms and advertising agencies to figure out what the public wants. Now you can offer the same service free. It’s great to live in a country that gives you a voice and saves large corporations tons of money. So, participate and VOTE!