Quad-C Group Review
There are a number of contenders vying for leadership in the Candy Coated Chocolate Confection (Quad-C) race, but only two clearly dominate the market. Even the best of the dozen or so also-rans can merely be the third horse in a two-horse race.
M&Ms from Mar’s and their predecessor, Smarties from Nestle are the two clear market leaders. However, it is hard to choose a clear market winner between these two Quad-C rivals as they rarely compete in the same geographic market. In the United States, M&Ms are the clear choice because Smarties are not available to the US consumer. Likewise Smarties dominates the market in Canada where M&Ms are not available. Assuming you had a choice, which one is better?
We brought the two brands into our test lab and ran them through a rigorous testing regimen executed by two industry experts who frequently consult on Quad-C purchases. Samantha, age 8, and Margo, age 5 and 3/4, have more than a decade combined experience advising on scores of Quad-C purchases. (Photo above by Candyblog).
In most group reviews our experts begin by noting price. In this review our experts focused first on volume. Price was irrelevant for two key reasons. First, the Smarties were purchased in Canada and the M&Ms in the United States. Factoring the exchange rate and the cost of gasoline consumption into the price made the math too difficult even for our editorial staff, so we lined-out that criterion from our review. Second, Samantha and Margo have never paid for candy in their lives and really don’t care about price. If necessary, dad can always pay with a credit card.
Focusing on package volume, Margo noted that more Smarties came in the box than did M&Ms from the bag. She was right, as the standard grocery-store-shelf-sized box of Smarties contained 56 grams of candy whereas the standard grocery-store-shelf-sized bag of M&Ms only had 47.9 grams. Samantha then noted that Smarties came in a box and M&Ms in a bag.
Comparing nutritional value, we noted that the US bag of M&Ms have 240 calories while the Canadian box of Smarties had 1070 kJ of “energie.” More confusing still was that the M&Ms possessed 10 g of fat while Smarties had 7.6 g of something called “matieres grasses.”
We also compared the ingredients list of the two products. M&Ms has a list of wholesome ingredients including sugar, chocolate, skim milk and milk fat. Forgetting for a moment that it seems more efficient to use lowfat milk rather than adding milk fat to skim milk, M&Ms would seem to have the healthiest list of ingredients. Of course M&Ms’ ingredient list ends with the secret code “red 40 lake, yellow 6, yellow 5, blue 2 lake, etc.” Smarties’ ingredients include, among other things, sucre, substances laitieres, farine de ble, amidon de mais modifie and colorant. We at TheMoPRBlog don’t know what any of that means, but we’re pretty sure we’re falling in love.
Our initial confusion about the nutritional information turned to well-placed apathy and both our experts agreed that nutritional metrics or the list of ingredients should never play a factor in a Quad-C purchase decision. After all, this is Quad-C and not hamburgers we’re talking about. Margo did point out however that if pepper was ever included in a recipe for candy, stay away from getting that kind, at least for her.
In the end, both Samantha and Margo selected Smarties as the best. Margo observed that Smarties come in pink while M&Ms do not have a pink offering. She further observed that Smarties are larger, allowing for more chocolate per piece. Combining the chocolate per piece ratio to the superior number of pieces per container allows for more chocolate ingestion, despite the 1070 kJs of energie.
Samantha, while also selecting Smarties as her Quad-C recommendation, noted the M&Ms have a thinner candy coating which made the chocolate flavor stand out. However, Smarties come in purple. Because of the harder candy shell on Smarties, Samantha elects to eat hers one at a time while she would feel completely comfortable eating two or three M&Ms at a time. Margo on the other hand prefers to eat as many as she can in one mouthful for either Smarties or M&Ms.
One interesting thing to note, both Smarties (developed first) and M&Ms were created for soldiers to give them a quick burst of energy. This writer can completely understand the logic behind such product development, particularly if the soldiers were between 5 and 3/4 and 8 years of age.
For a completely thorough comparison of these two candy coated chocolate confections, visit the head-to-head comparison on Candyblog.
Looking for a colorful mobility tie-in, it appears these candies have inspired a new line of mobile phone handsets for children. Japanese operator Willcom has introduced a phone named NICO targeted at kids ages 7 to 12, with M&M buttons in Smartie colors.
If you have an opinion on which candy is better, feel free to use this blog as your forum. If you have an opinion on which color NICO phone is best, likewise you’re invited to leave your comments here.
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June 5th, 2008 at 5:13 am
just want to mention that I am Canadian and have been eating both smarties and M&Ms for as long as i can remember - meaning m&ms are in fact available in Canada Im in Ontario so they are and have been available for yrs where i live seeing as though i have been eating them for ages and im 25 now. just thought id let you know that they are both available in Canada and that i prefer smarties over m&ms unless we are referring to peanut center m&ms and then they win coz smarties do not offer an option!