AdMiration feature: M&M's "Horrific & Delicious"

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to M&M’s "Horrific & Delicious" ad, which promotes the brand's limited edition Halloween mix just in time for trick or treating.

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens to a scene of the Orange, Yellow and Green M&M characters sitting on a couch watching a scary movie. The view immediately zooms in on Orange M&M, who looks scared, saying, “Don’t go in there, don’t go in there!” The scene pans to Yellow M&M, who’s covering his eyes, asking, “Is it over?” 

The scene moves to the TV, which shows a baking show that’s making M&M Halloween cookies, with the host seen pouring more M&M’s into the mixer, explaining, “And you pour the M&M’s into the bowl” as Orange M&M let’s out a “Noooo!” and clutches Yellow M&M — who looks just as horrified. 

As the view returns to more aggressive mixer shots on the TV screen, Yellow incredulously says, “I can’t believe they’re allowed to show this on TV!”

Green M&M finally pipes up, cozy at the other end of the couch, with a calm, “Shhhh, this is my favorite part,” as the other M&M’s stare forward in terror. 

The ad closes with a shot of all the M&M characters on a yellow backdrop, each wearing a Halloween costume or accessory, with an M&M’s Halloween mix bag (orange and brown) at the bottom of the screen and the words: “M&M’s & Halloween, it’s more fun together.”

3 facts

• This is a strong ad from M&M’s, landing in the top 15% of US ads for ability to drive short-term sales (Sales Impact: 85) and top 20% of US ads in ability to drive brand equity over the long term (Brand Impact: 80).

• The ad made audiences feel good about the M&M’s brand (Brand Appeal: 4.1 vs. 3.9 norm) and believe that M&M’s delivers what they expect from a candy bar brand (Brand Meets Needs: 4.3 vs. 4.1 norm), so much so that it led to a noticeable increased purchase consideration for M&M’s! (Purchase Uplift: 28% vs. 22% norm).

• The connection between M&M’s and Halloween comes through strongly in the ad, with the message “M&M’s offers playful treats that fit perfectly with Halloween” being seen as clear (Key Message Clarity: 4.4 vs. 4.2 norm) and believable (Key Message Believability: 4.4 vs. 4.1 norm).

2 learnings

• Short ads can be very engaging. Even in 15 seconds, you can create a story that is very emotionally engaging as long as you keep it simple. In this case, M&M’s put their familiar brand characters that people love into a relatable, seasonal scenario (watching a scary movie at Halloween) and included a funny twist. Keeping it simple, relatable and only as long as it needs to be to make the ad work effectively. 

• Brand mascots are an excellent way to cue the brand and positive emotions. In this case, as soon as Orange M&M appeared on screen, viewers immediately felt love as the M&M characters do an excellent job at cueing the brand, connecting emotionally (Overall Emotion: 64 vs. 57 norm) and are very well loved (Brand Appeal: 4.4 versus 3.9 norm). But that kind of immediate connection doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years to build — and the M&M’s characters have been around for more than 70 years! Using your brand characters in a focused, consistent and relevant way is a great way to make sure every generation feels the love.

1 reflection

Are you taking advantage of seasonal moments in your advertising? If it makes sense for your brand, notable seasonal holidays like Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas and, in this case, Halloween, present opportunities for brands to promote their products in a unique way or with a twist for that time of year. 

In this case, M&M’s used its newest seasonal launch (a Halloween blend of orange and black candies) as the focal point of their ad, complete with an example of how the seasonal selection could be used — to Orange and Yellow’s horror — as Halloween colored cookies! 

Because of this, the connection between M&M’s and Halloween is crystal clear, with some sharing: “M&M’s are good to put in cookies, and as a Halloween treat,” “Good candy for Halloween,” and “M&M’s are better for everyone to enjoy especially on Halloween.”

The brand’s 2025 Halloween campaign includes a handful of ads, seasonal batches and social activations for what some may call the most wonderful time of the year. 

In addition to "Horrific & Delicious," M&M’s also released an ad with musical duo Jedward as they watch a scary movie marathon inside one of Britain’s most haunted houses. Keeping with the scary movie theme, the brand is encouraging fans to take to social media with #HauntedSofaChallenge to share their own scary movie reactions.

A highlight of the campaign is their limited edition trio of fall color mixes, which include spooky season designed bags and the Red M&M dressed as Count Vampire, the Yellow M&M as a mummy and the Green M&M as a witch. These new Halloween Blends also feature a creative mix of colorful patterns modeled after signature Halloween colors: most notably, orange and black.

And of course, this campaign wouldn’t be complete without the brand’s Halloween Rescue Squad. Returning for its third year, M&M’s mission to leave no candy bowl empty is back on, with fans in Gopuff delivery areas able to score a refill for their candy bowls starting at 5 pm on Halloween night.  

Tim LeBel, President of Sales and Chief Halloween Officer at Mars Wrigley North America, shares: "M&M'S Halloween Rescue Squad is delivering the Halloween spirit to even more fans who are eager to have fun celebrating with family, friends and M&M'S. Nothing is scarier than an empty candy bowl on Halloween night, but M&M'S has your back if you run out — so you can keep the FUN and celebrations going."

Wonderfully timed for spooky season, this short but humorously engaging spot from M&M’s landed in the top 15% of US ads for ability to drive short-term sales (Sales Impact: 85) and top 20% of US ads in ability to drive brand equity over the long term (Brand Impact: 80).

The use of the beloved M&M mascots and highly relatable, seasonally relevant scary movie theme help this ad to be very distinctive, allowing it to drive great reach and be noticed and remembered (Distinctiveness: 4.1 vs. 3.7 norm, Claimed Attention 4.2 vs. 3.9 norm, Brand Distinctiveness 4.0 vs. 3.7 norm).

And no surprise, the M&M’s brand stands out in the ad (Unaided Brand Recall: 77% vs. 70% norm) thanks to the well-known M&M brand characters!

Through this scary movie scene, which features a murderous baking show making M&M Halloween cookies, the connection between M&M’s and Halloween comes through in the ad, with the message “M&M’s offers playful treats that fit perfectly with Halloween” being seen as clear (Key Message Clarity: 4.4 vs. 4.2 norm) and believable (Key Message Believability: 4.4 vs. 4.1 norm) — all of which ensures M&M’s comes to mind powerfully among a huge and of-the-moment category entry point as a treat to hand out during the Halloween season. 

Plus, even though the ad is brief, the story is clear and highly relatable to the season, with some people describing the message as: “Good candy for Halloween,” “M&M’s are good to put in cookies, and as a Halloween treat,” “M&M’s are better for everyone to enjoy especially on Halloween.”

And this simple but highly relatable storyline strongly resonates with audiences! They enjoy it (Enjoyment: 4.2 vs. 3.9 norm), but also find it relevant (Relevance: 3.9 vs. 3.7 norm) and easy to understand (Understanding: 4.5 vs. 4.3 norm).

Sometimes short and sweet is just the way to go to connect with viewers. This is especially true when you've built an entire world for your brand, making for short cuts that allow ads to be shorter and still achieve so much. So even at just 15 seconds long, the ad makes people feel something (Overall Emotion: 64 vs. 57 norm), sitting in the sweet spot of being loved (Love: 33% vs. 27% norm) and making people laugh (Laughter: 24% vs. 7% norm)!

Right off the bat, the ad begins with love as the M&M’s characters are introduced, and a bit of surprise as it seems like the candies are watching something very scary. But then it’s all laughter once it’s revealed that they’re watching a baking show instead — with spikes of laughter as Orange M&M wails when the candies are put into the bowl, when Yellow M&M says “I can’t believe they’re allowed to show this on TV!” and when Green M&M says “Shh! This is my favorite part.” The ad ends with love with the end card of all the M&M’s characters and the voiceover says “M&M’s. It’s more fun together.” 

When it comes to what viewers specifically enjoyed about the ad, most people liked the emotional appeal of the ad (22%) — that it was funny and cute — and the M&M’s characters (17%). They also liked the storyline (7%), use of humor (5%) and strong visuals (5%).

Here’s what some people had to say: 

• "I think it was cute that they were acting like it was a horror movie and it was a cooking show with M&M’s. Also, I liked it was short and to the point."

• "I really like that it was halloween themed and i found it funny that the M&M's characters were watching their version of a scary movie."

• "I thought that it was silly and it was cute that the little M&M’s were afraid of someone making M&M’s cookies."

• "It was cute. I like the characters and like the inclusion of spooky season."

• "I always enjoy M&M’s ads because the 2 main characters are cute."

• "I always like the M&M’s characters."

• "Festive and get you excited to do holiday baking and enjoy some candy."

• "The vibrant colors. The show of emotions from the candies and just that it made me smile."

As a result of all this, after watching the ad, audiences feel good about the M&M’s brand (Brand Appeal: 4.1 vs. 3.9 norm) and believe that M&M’s delivers what they expect from a candy bar brand (Brand Meets Needs: 4.3 vs. 4.1 norm) — a great win for a brand that’s looking to promote a limited edition line for the season.

On top of all this, the ad ultimately leads to increased consideration for M&M’s (Purchase Uplift: 28% vs. 22% norm)!

This was a wonderfully seasonally relevant and fun ad from M&M’s! What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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