April 22, 2023

Do baristas misspell your name? It can win you a year's supply of M&M's

To promote the candy's new flavor, caramel cold brew, the company will select randomly 20 winners; the contest runs through Sunday, April 30

By Franki Rudnesky
PhillyVoice Staff

Provided Image/M&M's

M&M's is hosting a sweepstakes through April 30 to give away a year's supply of its new candy flavor, caramel cold brew. To enter, share how your name has been misspelled by coffeehouse baristas.

Picking up a coffee order and seeing your name spelled wrong on the cup can elicit a laugh, an eye roll or even a photo for social media. Now, the barista's misspelling could win you a ton of sweet treats.

M&M's is giving away a year's supply of its newest flavor of the candy, caramel cold brew. To win, all you have to do is have had your name spelled wrong on your coffee order. To enter, submit your first and last name, along with the jumbled version that was written on your coffee cup by a barista, to the candy makers website. The contest started on National Cold Brew Day on April 20, and entries continue to be accepted through Sunday, April 30 at 11:59 p.m.

Coffee cup name misspellings are a fairly common phenomenon. Last month, an online survey conducted by KRC Research found that 62 percent of Americans have had their name misspelled on a coffee order. For instance, this writer has received coffee cups containing all sorts of variations of Franki — including Frankie, Franky, Frank and Franny, to name a few.

The errors may or may not be on purpose, as a Youtube video from 2014 revealed that one Starbucks manager messed up names on purpose as a marketing ploy.

Whether or not the mess-ups were intentional, 20 winners will be selected at random on Monday, May 1, to receive a year’s worth of caramel cold brew-flavored M&M's – the equivalent of 156 single serving packs.

Source/M&M's

Caramel cold brew M&M's became available in early 2023 and are described as tasting like robust coffee combined with sweet, chewy caramel. Along with the new flavor of candy, M&M's also unveiled its spokescandy, Purple.

The introduction of Purple, along with changes made to the existing characters, sparked backlash that led to M&M's saying the company was pausing using its recognizable mascots only to reintroduce them a couple weeks later during a Super Bowl commercial.