Content Creator Tony is here this week to tell you all about what he found in the depths of the M&M’s wiki:
If you remember the early days of Wikipedia like I do, the statement “Wikipedia is not a source” was drilled into your head by every teacher you ever had. I have to imagine this continues today, as well, but look, we’re all busy, and sometimes you just need to check a Wikipedia page to confirm something. Also, what was their source to confirm that Wikipedia wasn’t a source? Not one teacher ever gave me an MLA citation to help confirm that.
The central issue with Wikipedia — that anyone can edit it — is a bit moot in this day and age, thanks to the time and effort of many anonymous editors to fact-check and protect against online vandals. If a page is suspect, you usually get a warning at the top.
This is certainly not the case with all Wiki resources, though. There are many fan-based Wiki-style resources, from Wookieepedia to Familypedia, the wiki for genealogy (or as the site puts it, “YOUR family”). I re-learned this lesson when I was researching Crispy M&M’s, which took me to the M&M’s Fandom Wiki. While there, I found out… well… (NOTE: all typos left intact)
“The ethics surrounding the Crispy M&M line have been fraught, ever since it was revealed that Sudam Hussein’s favorite kind of M&Ms were the crispy ones,” later adding they were discontinued as part of the War on Terror effort.
Uhhhhh… As a dutiful researcher, I tried to see if this incredulous claim had any merit by the most advanced methods known to humankind. I typed “Saddam Hussein Crispy M&M’s” into my Google search bar, and found out that this might not be entirely inaccurate. Shockingly, there’s a 2004 article (claiming to originate from the Houston Chronicle) that detailed the deposed leader’s diet, which included Mars Bars. Not Crispy M&M’s, sure, but definitely chocolate from the same corporation.
So if we have to take even the most incredible claims from this page with a grain of salted caramel, must we also be concerned with its claims of troubling labor practices? You decide:
“The most recent scandal around the crispy M&Ms relates to its use of Baby M&M labour, as whistleblower groups leaked images of Baby M&Ms packing and sealing the bags.”
But even if you can’t believe everything you read on a user-edited resource, there’s often some undeniable truth that slips into even the most unreliable corners of them. For example, on the bottom of the Crispy M&M’s page we see:
“Objectively speaking, these are the best M&Ms.”
Can’t argue with that!
As a whole, the M&M’s Fandom Wiki is a mixed bag, with some pages scanning as pretty reliable, and others as if they were haphazardly slapped together by a 12-year-old edgelord. The entry for Milk Chocolate falls into the first category, with very factual, if dry, text about the history of M&M’s. Its “Trivia” section appears extremely mailed-in, though.
Speaking of mailing it in, the entire text of the Peanut Butter M&M’s entry — a popular flavor ranked No. 1 by a 2021 Mashed article — is as follows:
“Peanut Butter M&Ms are so big. released on January 1, 1991.”
The site does helpfully add some potentially life-saving tips among this mess. For example, in the General Information section for Almond M&M’s, you can find:
“Nut allergy concerns?: there are Almonds in these, which are types of nuts.”
Thank you.
They also alert you to any potential scams that “unique” M&M’s flavors may carry with them. The second and last sentence of the Popcorn flavor entry is:
“It’s basically just yellow, brown and white Crispy M&Ms.”
No thoughts on whether “Sudam Hussein” enjoyed the Popcorn flavor enough to trigger another international crisis.
But it’s not only the factually fraught histories of M&M’s and the M&M candy characters (which, honestly, I’m terrified to read) that you can find information on. It also has helpful information about the humans who have appeared in M&M commercials and fun facts about them. For example, you might be surprised to know that “BB King is an M&M’s Character who appears as himself, but also sings the blues.” I am currently listening to King, and he is mind-blowingly good. I might never have learned this without the people working hard to catalog the M&M’s Cinematic Universe.
Sadly, we found that the M&M’s Fandom Wiki did not meet our editorial standards for reliability in our research. Middle school teachers everywhere can breathe easy, unless one of you sets out on a mission to fix and update the site to more accurately reflect the robust history of M&M’s.
But if you have something better to do, I get it. Heck, I don’t have better things to do, and I’m probably not touching this mess ever again.
