These Bored Apes Will Melt in Your Mouth: M&M’s Releases NFT-Inspired Candy

Now you can actually eat some bored apes via limited-edition M&Ms. Candy brand Mars announced today that it has signed a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) label 10:22 p.m. to create a limited edition M&M based on Kingship, its virtual bands Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape. The yacht club is made up of avatars.

Consumers’ expectations of what they want from their favorite brands [have] has shifted, and at Mars, we know we need to be more innovative than ever with a culturally renowned brand like M&Ms,” Mars Wrigley Global Vice President Jane Hwang said in a release.

Kingship was revealed last November as a “metaverse band” formed from the NFT owned by investor and entrepreneur Jimmy “j1mmy” McNellis. The label 10:22 PM has built Persona around depictions of bored monkeys and is developing original music for the group – following the model set by the popular virtual band Gorillaz – which will perform at the Metaverse World.

The band has also issued their own NFT “key cards” which provide exclusive benefits and access to the holders. NFT owners were given early access to purchase M&M’s candy.

As part of the deal, Mars has released limited quantities of branded M&M’s chocolate candies, which feature images of bored apes and kingship iconography on them. All told, Mars will sell a total of 10,000 packages of candy between the gift boxes and the gift jars.

Decrypt contacted UMG representatives for additional details on the terms of the deal and how the partnership came together, but we didn’t immediately hear back.

To be clear, this M&M’s deal is not a partnership with Yug Labs or the actual bored ape Yachts Club brand. Instead, Bored App NFT holders are able to use their proprietary images to create products and projects, and license that artwork to brands if they wish.

The Kingship deal with UMG’s 10:22 PM label is one such example of a licensing deal, and this new Mars alliance adds another layer to it. Bored app images have also been used for fast food restaurants, marijuana and alcohol packaging, clothing, collectibles and more.

Bored apes have also created a lot of noise in the music scene. In addition to Kingship, popular producer and composer Timbaland has released music around his own board app avatar, and launched a record label to do the same for other artists.