Sweden vs Mars?

It's time for a treat! What's there to eat?

"Hey, Sven. Got a spare M and M?"

It’s doubtful that there’s anyone in the United States unaware of the candy with the initial
"m” on the piece or on the pack.Every US candy lover knows about the famous candy, but few pay any attention to the letter stamped on each piece.

 Is it “M”. or.”m”..“M and M” or even “m and m”?

 Who cares? It’s one of America’s favorite candy.

Forrest Mars invented the recipe for “m and m”s chocolate during the Spanish Civil War. Mars noticed soldiers eating pieces of chocolate covered with a hard sugary coating in their daily mess-kit. He realized that the coating prevented the candy from melting in the hot sun. After the war, Forrest began producing the now-famous condiment and received a patent for his manufacturing process on March 3, 1941. The candy became famous and popular world wide, except in selected companies due to their existing and similar product. The countries not interested were Finland, Norway and Sweden because these countries were happily consuming their own sugary condiment and didn’t appreciate any competition. For this reason, The US company Mars did not attempt to promote their popular 'm and m' product and honored their “No sale”agreement in 1989. All went well until the agreement lapsed. Not being renewed, Mars decided to introduce m and ms to Swedish candy lovers.

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All this time, Marabou, a Swedish candymaker owned by Mondelez had been  satisfying Swedish candy-lovers

since the 1950s with their chocolate product they had been selling in Europe using the brand name “m”.

The resulting competition became too much, as well as confusing shoppers because both the US and Swedish company was using the same letter “m” for their trademark. Swedes always enjoy their chocolate and there was bound to be a problem.Americans are noted for being “No.1” in candy consumption, but Sweden is in the top ten.

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“En familj på 4 personer konsumerar 1,2 kilo godis i veckan!.”

 For those of you  who do not speak Swedish, the English translation reads “A family of four consumes 1.2 kilograms of candy a week.”

"Swedes eat on average 16 kilos of candy per person a year" according to the Board of Agriculture. For those who do not use metrics: That’s a lot!  And the amount consumed creates other problems. All this sugar causes tooth decay! It’s claimed that Swedes ‘have the biggest sweet tooth around’ and Swedish authorities attempted to slow the sugar consumption urging consumers to ease their daily sweets urges .

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They introduced  "lördagsgodis” (Saturday candy) , a ritual of choosing (and eating) 'pick 'n mix' candy to encourage “Candy eating only on weekends", hoping this might ease the daily habit. Swedish kids loved the Saturday ritual of unlimited candy! Once a week, Swedes were given a free pass to indulge in all the gummies, chocolates, and salty licorice their Nordic hearts desired. However, the kids', and adults’ daily habit did not go away.                    Candy sales soared.

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When the US Mars company, and “m and ms began to be too much for the Swedish Marabou-Martinez company, Mars was called into court and was forced to stop selling their “m and m” product, due to their very similar trademark of the single lower-class “m” ,  claiming the Swedes had a patent on the “m” trademark.

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In Swedish, there is something called“smågodisätande”( Loosely translated: candy snacking ). All food stores usually have a whole wall lined with “pick-and-choose yourself” bulk candy. A favorite snack is “pastelifiskar”, a fish-shaped chewy wine pastel fish offered in several colors. By the way, candy, is called 'godis' in Swedish.

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Despite all the Swedish candies, Mars believed there was a market for their m and m product  and countersued for the right to sell their product. Finally the Swedish Supreme Court worked out a compromise  both companies accepted. The Swedish product would retain the lower case "m" while Mars candies would be required to change their products to be marked with the UPPER case "M" and both companies were in business. "M and M" was now saleable in Sweden and quickly accepted.

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 Back home, here in the USA,The American company Nabisco took notice and decided to create a “Limited Edition” of a possible product to lure  American candy-eaters to mimic the Swedish candy-habit

and decided to cash in on the Swedish fish motif . Nabisco was successful with their Oreo Cookie product and decided to produce a ”Limited Edition” product based on the Swedish fish idea here in the USA. They called their new offering “The Fish Oreo” using the very popular chocolate covers, and instead of the usual minty filling, Nabisco substituted a red filling that had a hint of fish added.
 The Swedish Fish Oreo after-taste gave tasters an unusual and apparently unexpectedly annoying taste experience.

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Several reviews were not favorable and the new product was not a great success. However, Nabisco’s ”Fish Oreo” is available in select USA stores and can be ordered on-line today! A spokesperson  for Mars felt that there never was  confusion between the two “m” products. Marabou was a peanut candy while America’s M “melted in your mouth”. At the latest report,  Swedish candy shoppers can pick up both "M and M"s  and their own “m” candies from their stores. Probably, not side-by-side!    

Sweet!