Red and Yellow are anthropomorphic characters introduced in M&M's commercials since late 1995. & M&M's The Movie since 1996.
Red[]
Red is an M&M's character originally voiced by Mel Blanc from 1954 to 1971, Ian MacKelleon from 1970 to 1988, from 1993 to 1999 and from 2001 to 2004, John Lovitz from 1988 to 2001 and by Billy West from 2001 to 2017, before he died in September 2018. While his human self is played by Danny DeVito. The other M&M's usually make fun of him because he is the shortest. Red can be described as the "main character" of the M&M's.
Yellow[]
Yellow is the spokescandy for Peanut M&Ms. He is one of the two "nut" M&Ms, the other being the Almond M&M, Blue. Yellow is the happy go-lucky one of the M&MS. He always tries to see the best in things, and is almost never sad. He is Red's best friend and is always by his side in the commercials. Red usually uses Yellow to make him do things he doesn't want to do, taking advantage of Yellow being gullible, but in the end they are best friends. He was voiced by John Goodman (who also voiced Sulley in Monsters Inc., and portrayed Ocious P. Potter in The Borrowers) from 1963 to 2001, and by J.K. Simmons (who also voiced J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, Cave Johnson in the video game Portal 2, Tenzin in The Legend of Korra, Stanford Pines in Gravity Falls, Kai in Kung Fu Panda 3, and Mayor Lionheart in Zootopia) from 1999 to 2012, before he died in 2014.
History[]
Red[]
Red M&M's have been around since the product began production in 1941, however, the character of Red would not appear until 1954. Accompanied by the prototype version of Yellow, both characters lacked their personalities and their colours, as the advert was aired in black and white. In 1957, Red and Yellow would gain their characteristic shapes. The first time Red would gain his cynical and sardonic nature would be in 1995 in the first CGI advert made for M&M's. After this, Red kept this personality and has changed little over the last 20 years.
Yellow[]
Yellow's history dates back to the 1940s, before voting. When he and Red were first created, they were people with M&Ms for heads. In the 1950s, Red and Yellow became the anthropomorphic M&Ms we all know and love. In 1995, Red and yellow became CGI.
Formats[]
Prime Time[]
- October 27, 1954 – October 11, 1960
- January 17, 1961 – August 7, 1962
Saturday Mornings[]
- Mid/late August/September 8, 1968 (in color starting September 10, 1966)
- September 14, 1968 – September 4, 1971
- September 11, 1971 – September 1, 1973
- September 8, 1973 – August 30, 1975
- September 6, 1975 – November 12, 1977
- November 19, 1977 – September 7, 1985
- September 13, 1980 – December 18, 1982
- September 7, 1985 – September 6, 1986
- September 13, 1986 – September 12, 1992
- September 8, 1990 – December 4, 1993
- August 11, 1991 – September 9, 2000
- September 19, 1992 – December 5, 1992
- January 23, 1993 – May 8, 1993
- September 18, 1993 – December 11, 1993
- August 23, 1997 – November 22, 1997
- August 22, 1998 – September 19, 1998
- January 23, 1999 – January 22, 2000
- July 21, 2001 – September 21, 2002
- September 21, 2002 – November 30, 2002
Monday to Friday Afternoons[]
- September 16, 1985 – November 12, 1987
- September 21, 1987 – October 30, 1987
- November 2, 1987 – November 5, 1987
- November 6, 1987 – November 24, 1988
- September 4, 1989 – September 8, 1989
- September 11, 1989 – September 15, 1989
- September 18, 1989 – September 22, 1989
- September 25, 1989 – September 29, 1989
- October 2, 1989 – October 6, 1989
- October 9, 1989 – October 13, 1989
- October 16, 1989 – October 20, 1989
- October 23, 1989 – October 27, 1989
- October 30, 1989 – November 3, 1989
- November 6, 1989 – November 10, 1989
- November 13, 1989 – November 17, 1989
- November 20, 1989 – November 24, 1989
- November 27, 1989 – November 30, 1989
- September 10, 1990 – September 14, 1990
- September 17, 1990 – September 21, 1990
- September 18, 1990 – November 19, 1990
- September 24, 1990 – September 26, 1990
- November 5, 1990 – November 27, 1990
- March 8, 1993 – November 28, 1997
- September 3, 1996 – November 28, 1996
- August 17, 1998 – August 21, 1998
- September 15, 1998 – May 18, 1999
- February 14, 2000 – July 20, 2001
- January 15, 2001 – December 11, 2001
- August 15, 2001 – December 9, 2002
- March 25, 2002 – January 28, 2003
Sunday Nights[]
- September 23, 1962 – March 17, 1963
- March 26, 1989 – February 11, 1990
- August 11, 1991 – January 2, 1994
- August 11, 1991 – May 22, 1994
- January 12, 1997 – May 17, 1998
- November 7, 1999 – August 31, 2003
- May 1, 2005 – September 13, 2009
- August 16, 1998 – June 8, 2003
- April 11, 1999 – May 16, 1999
- May 1, 2005 – June 20, 2010