M&M’s uses the slogan “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” The line highlights the candy’s hard sugar shell, which protects its chocolate center and makes it easier to carry without melting immediately in a person’s hand.
M&M’s began production in the United States in 1941. The company was created through a partnership between Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie, whose fathers were major figures in competing parts of the American candy industry. The name reflects their surnames.
The candy’s shell was designed for practical reasons as well as branding: it helped preserve chocolate in warm conditions, including during military service. That functional feature became the foundation for one of the best-known advertising slogans in confectionery history.
The tagline was introduced in 1949 and originally referred specifically to milk chocolate M&M’s. The brand later expanded into peanut, peanut butter, almond, pretzel, caramel, crispy, and dark-chocolate varieties, but the slogan remains most closely associated with the classic candy-coated chocolate pieces.