M&M's are candy-coated pieces of milk chocolate with the letter "m" printed on them, produced by Mars, Incorporated. Popular in the United States and many other countries, several variations of the candies exist, including plain milk chocolate, peanut, peanut butter, mint, dark chocolate (with and without peanuts), and almond. Not all of these varieties are available worldwide however. First produced in 1941, the candies were originally manufactured in brown, yellow, orange, red, green, and violet. Tan replaced violet in 1949. Blue replaced tan in 1995.[1] Others include white, cream, gold, maroon, dark pink, pink, light purple, light blue, dark blue, teal, aqua, electric green, dark green, black, silver, shimmer golden, shimmer platinum, and shimmer pearl. The "shimmer" colours have a pearlescent finish giving them a sparkling appearance.[2]