The Food Scout

Several decades ago, pop culture artist Andy Warhol made big bucks screen-printing large copies of Campbell Soup cans onto canvas, and raised the question of whether food was art, or art was food (I still find it interesting that Campbell Soup Company proudly displays one of those canvases that it presumably bought, when it should have been suing the pants off of Warhol for copyright infringement). And now M&M/Mars takes us all one step closer to bridging the gap between food and art ourselves.

Hopefully you already knew that it was possible to have little messages printed on M&M’s for, say, a wedding or other special occasion where one does not mind paying $27 per pound for customized M&Ms (go to http://mymms.com/customprint ). But soon, says M&M/Mars, it will be possible to UPLOAD PHOTOS to allow the printing of one’s face on little tiny M&M’s. That’s right, for a price, you can have your face printed on one of America’s most popular candies, and put it in a little dish for guests to enjoy. Right next to the bowl of Pringle’s chips with riddles printed on them.

M&M/Mars (or now, Mars Snackfood US) appears to be on an innovation roll this year. The M&M’s Faces program was premiered at a recent trade show, along with the planned launch of M&M’s Premiums, which resemble richly colored gemstones made with premium chocolate and a variety of upscale flavors. In addition, next month will see the launch of M&M’s Ice Cream Treats, which look like giant M&M’s on a stick (but filled with ice cream and coated with chocolate). And though it’s said that Mars will keep an arms-length distance from recently acquired Wrigley, it’s probably only a matter of time before we will be able to order sticks of gum with special messages and pictures printed on them.

Then we will forget that the price of food is going up because we had the fun of getting it custom-printed. Personalized corn-on-the-cob anyone?