Did you know that there were no red M&Ms from 1976 until the beginning of 1987?  Yes, there was a sort of a red-M&Ms-less decade.  And…if you were around during that decade, you must have noticed.  For those of you that were not around, didn’t know, did not eat M&Ms during that decade or do not remember much from that decade, this is what happened:

In 1976, the FDA banned Red Dye #2 after a Russian study tied the use of the dye to cancer. And even though the poor little red M&Ms were actually not made with Red Dye #2, they were discontinued from the M&M mix in order to avoid customer confusion. And that is when the orange M&Ms were introduced. Forward 10 years plus and they were brought back into the mix with the orange ones remaining as well. So, that was my short piece of RED trivia for today!

There are several old M&M commercials in you tube from that decade. Just watch this short 1981 video and look closely at 24 seconds. Do you see any red M&Ms?  Not a one.