When It Comes to Colors, M&M’s Are Not Created Equal

While it may seem trivial to some, there really is a scientific method to the mixture of colors in M&M's.

There was a time when the M&M's website published the ratio of colors mixed for packaging the famous candy, but they no longer do that. I found a document from 2008 that outlines how the company decides what ratios of colors are used.

Here's what they had to say.

Our color blends were selected by conducting consumer preference tests, which indicate the assortment of colors that pleased the greatest number of people and created the most attractive overall effect."

Each large production batch is blended to those ratios and mixed thoroughly. However, since the individual packages are filled by weight on high-speed equipment, and not by count, it is possible to have an unusual color distribution."

Are the ratios the same in 2015 as they were in 2008? See for yourself.

My independent test used seven fun sized bags of M&M's, which, as described above, did not all have the same ratio of colors in each bag. While probably not considered scientific, here are my 2015 ratios. 28% red, 20% orange, 19% green, 12% yellow, 12% brown, 9% blue.

Next test, Peanut M&M's.