M&M's New Color Is Stealing The Show With Its Own Theme Song

M&M's: those little candies that melt in your mouth, not your hand. While these tiny chocolate droplets are understandably popular — Mars cranks out 400 million pieces of candy each day – M&M's are also popular for another reason: the characters.

Introduced in 1954 (via CNN), the M&M's characters are based off a specific color found in each bag, and have become recognizable symbols both in the candy aisle and on television. You've likely seen the commercial with Red and Yellow finding out that Santa does exist (and vice versa) every year around the Christmas season (via TODAY) or you may also remember that brief, but really weird, controversy with the Green M&M getting sneakers instead of pumps back in January (via CBS News). People really seem to love these animated candy characters, don't they?

Earlier this month, M&M's teased that "something new" was coming, something large enough that it would change just what was possible in the world of M&M's. It would seem that Mars is making a big stir over its new character, including a new theme song of all things.

The Purple M&M is meant to stand for inclusivity

It seems that some guesses were correct as to what the big news from M&M's would be: M&M's has introduced purple to the roster. The Purple M&M is the newest character introduced to the group following the Brown M&M in 2012 (via TIME). "There is so much about our new spokescandy that people can relate to and appreciate, including her willingness to embrace her true self – our new character reminds us to celebrate what makes us unique," says Jane Hwang, Global Vice President at Mars Wrigley, on the introduction of Purple (per press release).

Purple's introduction seems to be set for high expectations, especially since she has her own theme song promoting her arrival (via Instagram). The song "I'm Just Gonna Be Me" was released on YouTube on September 28, with M&M's promising that every time the song is streamed or downloaded, $1 of up to $500,000 will donated to the non-profit charity "Sing for Hope" (via press release). On Instagram, some people seemed excited by the introduction of the Purple M&M and her new song, while comments on YouTube seemed to show exhaustion that M&M's was relying on terms like "inclusivity" and "quirkiness" to market a new character instead of a new product.

Whether or not the Purple M&M will be as successful as M&M's hopes is still playing out, but it would appear they are confident in "her" success.