Unshelling M&M’s ‘Protect the Peanut’ Documentary

​When M&M’s unearthed a barrage of criticism on Reddit for its peanut variety, the brand had to make a decision around how it would tackle – and remedy – the situation. 

It found the answer in ‘Protect the Peanut’, an initiative designed to better understand the issues that the peanut was currently facing, and how to rectify them for future generations. Sharing its findings in a documentary short also titled ‘Protect the Peanut’, the work, created in collaboration with BBDO Chicago and directed by Sunny Sixteen through nobodys, offers a scientific yet comedic insight into how M&M’s solved a pretty significant problem. 

The decision to utilise documentary storytelling was both logistical and creatively driven, explains BBDO Chicago’s chief creative officer Josh Gross. “The story was just too big to be told any other way,” he says. “The Reddit thread, the science, the brand’s unwavering commitment, the environmental and economic impacts. And all for the humble peanut? A traditional, reductionist campaign wasn’t going to cut it. We had to get in there and tell the whole story.”

The brief, Josh adds, was anything but “standard”. Instead, it “organically emerged” from the agency’s close partnership with M&M’s and Mars. “These complaints about the peanuts in Peanut M&M’s were piling up,” he explains, “and when you looked deeper, it turns out it wasn’t a product problem – it was a peanut problem. A problem exacerbated by our changing climate. It was an incredible starting point for a big idea.” 

The film traces the journey from uncovering disillusioned fans on Reddit, to the brand partnering with the University of Georgia to learn more about the environmental factors interfering with the taste of peanuts as we know them. And with Mars setting the standard high – with only 1% of peanuts grown globally qualifying to fill an M&M – the pressure to ‘Protect the Peanut’ was on. 

“The science humbled us, to be honest,” Josh admits. “Once you realise most of the world’s peanuts trace back to two plants, and how fragile that makes the system, you begin to see the creativity inherent in the science. It becomes: How do you simplify without dumbing down? How do you take something so technical and make it something people can feel?”

Getting the science right was an essential part of making ‘Protect the Peanut’. The BBDO Chicago team worked incredibly closely with the scientists, asking “so many questions” and making them explain the intricacies of the peanut genome to them countless times. “These people have dedicated their lives to this issue, so it was important to us that the work did right by them,” says Josh. “They’re also really cool, insanely smart, and incredibly passionate people – we were lucky to get to spend so much time with them.”

Sensing that protecting the peanut could have broader implications than inside M&M’s hard candy exterior, Josh shares that the “far-reaching potential of this initiative is what made it exciting from the start.” 

“One of Mars’ five principles is mutuality,” he continues. “Mars believes they benefit when others do too. This means you get the opportunity to do work that does so much more than just drive the business – it can change the world.”

Blending Humour with Science

With the scientific aspect of the project in hand, BBDO Chicago turned to directing collective Sunny Sixteen via production company nobodys for the visual component of the documentary. Describing the collective as “prolific”, Josh says. “They have a knack for telling irresistible stories. And they’re incredible collaborators. When you watch something they’ve made, you want to lean in and listen. You get sucked in. You don’t ever feel you’re being ‘told’ something.”

Experienced documentary filmmakers, the collective are known for the Immortal Awards’ commendation-winning ‘The Last Barf Bag’ for Dramamime, and their previous work with M&M’s on ‘Internet, Meet Rick’. 

Speaking on the project’s origins, Sunny Sixteen explained, “The brief was to address a real consumer concern around the peanut, but do it in a way that felt worthy of the brand and bigger than a product story.

“Our initial response was to follow that thread as far as it could go,” they continue. “What starts as a simple question about taste quickly opens up into something much bigger, climate, agriculture, genetics, and the entire system required to protect a single ingredient.

“From there, it was about shaping a narrative that felt like a true discovery. Letting the story unfold naturally, bringing in the right voices, and making sure the brand earned its place within it.”

The documentary highlights a range of different voices – all connected to the peanut issue in their own ways. From Mars executives, to M&M’s fans, and scientists, the narrative unfolds to reveal that the issue went beyond the brand; it was an issue facing peanuts globally, exacerbated by the changing climate. 

To tell the story, Sunny Sixteen leant on their previous experience of working with the brand. “Creating ‘Internet, Meet Rick’ was a much more contained story,” they say. “It centred heavily on Rick as a character, but through that process, we got a clear sense of how deeply M&M’s cares about its customers and its collector community.

“That experience definitely carried into ‘Protect the Peanut’,” they continue. “It informed how we approached conversations, how we engaged with real people on camera, and how we shaped our questions. We weren’t just capturing soundbites; we were trying to understand the emotional connection people have with the brand, and ultimately align that with the larger story we were telling.”

They add that having that prior relationship and understanding gave them a stronger sense of the end goal from the beginning of the project, which in turn allowed them to be more intentional with how they conveyed the story from the get go. 

However, the real-world significance of ‘Protect the Peanut’ meant that the documentary required a tonal shift from their previous work with the brand. “Like much of our documentary work, we approach stories with a human touch, something grounded, relatable, and personal,” they explain. “‘Internet, Meet Rick’ really leaned into that charm. With this project, though, both we and the agency wanted to shift the tone slightly… still human and engaging, but with more weight behind it. 

“Creatively, this film carried a heavier tone because the stakes were real. The peanut was at risk of disappearing, so our challenge became: how do we communicate that urgency in a way that’s clear and accessible, but still engaging to watch? Going into production, we initially thought access would be our biggest hurdle: finding the right voices to tell this story. But once we started speaking with the scientists and executives at M&M's, their genuine excitement and investment in the issue made that process much more natural than we expected.

“The real challenge ended up being scale,” they continue. “This is a global story, with real implications, and we had to distil all of that into a six-minute film. That balance of depth, clarity, and storytelling within a tight runtime, was definitely the hardest part.” 

Each voice had its own purpose within the narrative, ultimately helping to craft the sense of fun creativity alongside factual science that runs throughout the film. “Complex topics can still have a humour and charm to them, especially for a brand like M&M's,” says the directing collective. 

“It really came down to treating each voice with equal respect, but giving them different roles in the story,” they explain. “The superfans bring the energy and emotional entry point; they’re the reason you care. The scientists and farmers bring the credibility; they’re the reason you believe it.

“At the end of the day, the peanut is the throughline. Whether it’s a fan talking about taste or a scientist talking about genetics, they’re all protecting the same thing.”

As the documentary comes to a close, it circles back to the Redditors who first started the peanut conversation many years ago. Speaking to these loyal fans was a no-brainer, according to Josh, who shares that while Reddit can be a “scary” place for brands to learn more about their consumers, it was the “unfiltered”, “honest”, and “wild” nature of the platform that made it the perfect starting point for the campaign to grow from.

“It was important to start from this place of honesty,” says Josh. “By listening to fans, even when they had hard things to say, M&M’s was able to change the peanut as we know it. And in the end, we knew we had to go back to Reddit. I mean, it’s the last thing you’d expect from a big, global brand, right? Return to the Redditors who had a bad experience with your product? But it became this really compelling way to demonstrate M&M’s true commitment.”

The documentary ends on a positive note, for M&M’s, which has seen consumer complaints for peanut M&M’s decrease by more than 90%, and for the future of peanuts more largely. With the ‘Protect the Peanut’ movement set to extend into China, Argentina, India, and many other countries, peanut fans can rest assured that the new peanut variety can thrive as a more resilient crop around the world. 

So, when asked if there was anything else he’d like to share, it’s unsurprising that Josh came back to three simple words: “Protect the Peanut!”