M&Ms celebrates (almost) Super Bowl champions with diamond-encrusted ring

Dive Brief:

• M&M’s is celebrating NFL Hall of Famers who missed out on winning Super Bowl rings in a new campaign ahead Super Bowl LVIII, per a press release.
• “M&M’s Almost Champions Ring of Comfort” will give diamond-encrusted rings to Dan Marino, Terrell Owens and Bruce Smith. Each 14K gold ring includes man-made diamonds forged from peanut butter.
• The campaign is meant to celebrate all types of athletes, regardless if they win or lose. The full spot will air during the first commercial break of the first quarter of Super Bowl LVIII.

Dive Insight:

M&M’s is taking a lighthearted approach to inclusivity with its Super Bowl LVIII effort. The M&M’s Almost Champions Ring of Comfort are meant to celebrate football greats who didn’t earn a championship ring of their own. The gesture looks to orient Peanut Butter M&M’s as the epitome of comfort. 

“M&M’s is all about using the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong,” said Gabrielle Wesley, CMO of Mars Wrigley North America, in a statement. “To inspire moments of everyday happiness and entertain fans, it’s only fitting that our Mars Brand gem partners with a roster of NFL Legends to debut a custom ring with diamonds made from real M&M’s peanut butter, providing one-of-a-kind carats and comfort for exceptional almost champions.”

In a trailer for the commercial, which is 30-seconds longer than the actual commercial, a scientist explains the process of turning peanut butter into diamonds. The three honorees are also featured. The brand’s yellow M&M character (voiced by actor J.K. Simmons) narrates the commercial, making humorous mistakes along the way. 

The diamonds included in the ring were lab-created using peanut butter. The ring itself opens to reveal a replica of a football stadium, which is able to hold a single Peanut Butter M&M. To create the diamonds, peanut butter was exposed to 3,000°C temperatures and 800,000 pounds per square inch of pressure and the resulting material was ground and grated into its final form.

This year’s relatively straightforward Super Bowl campaign comes after a puzzling big game effort from M&M’s in 2023. The brand last January put its spokescandies on an “indefinite pause” in the lead up to a complicated and confusing Super Bowl spot starring actress Maya Rudolph. The move toyed with the polarizing nature of a previous rebrand that some conservative commentators criticized as “woke.”