Election 2016: Candy Coated Candidates

I fall for it. Whenever I'm in the checkout aisle and there's a new M&Ms flavor, I must try it.*

So when I'm given the chance to vote in the M&M election for a new favorite nut flavor...

... yup, I bought them all. Meet our 2016 candidates.

All flavors succeed at pairing well with chocolate and nuts. I don't love spicy chocolate so I lean towards the coffee and honey camps. I ultimately loved the extra dose of sweetness in the honey nut and they got my vote. But I do have to applaud the smoothness of the coffee, it was more like a creamy latte than a bitter coffee.

 

It's brilliant marketing, which gets them selling three packs of candy rather than one. And yes, I ate them all in one sitting. And since this election is way more pleasant than our current political system, I recommend you all take part, and exercise your right to vote. 

I mean, let's be honest, add a talking M&M to our current presidential ballot... he'd probably win. 

*Peanut butter still reigns.

Mike & Ike: Together Again. And Looking Quite Different.

In case you missed it (and were worried)...

Mike & Ike are back together.
And have been for some time it would seem.

The break-up of Mike & Ike two years ago, due to creative differences, shock the candy world quite hard. I first noticed the sugar-coated divorce while standing in the check-out lane at the Meijer. My first thought was that a child had gotten loose with a Sharpie. But no, we were supposed to pick our candy based on whose side we were on.

Oh, marketers.

The fictional split, which included wide-spread billboards and a vast social media campaign, increased the sales of Just Born's Mike & Ike by 7.2% in 2012.

And just in time to cash in a second time, the candy duo  reunited. This happy news I received while standing in the check-out lane at the Meijer, when the packaging above shouted it out at me.

It would seem that their reconciliation came with a rebrand. Personally, I would have favored a throwback, retro-style packaging, vs. the bad fruity arcade stylization they ended up with (is that PacMan fruit I see??)

But as they are heading into the next phase of their relationship, I can understand why harkening back to their (apparently somewhat rocky) past would seem unwise. So I will accept the new look, and simply wish the duo best wishes and many happy returns on their joyful news!