They Do Exist: What Year Did The M&M’s Fainting Santa Commercial Originally Air? – Looper

The original “Faint” ad ended on a cliffhanger — so 21 years after it first premiered, the company decided to share how the story ended. Released on November 29, 2017, and dubbed “Faint 2: A Very Yellow Sequel,” this collaboration between CLM BBDO in France and BBDO New York starts with Yellow realizing that with Santa and Red unconscious, it’s up to him to save Christmas.

Yellow does his best to fill Santa’s boots, but his work as a peanut M&M has not prepared him for this level of seasonal pressure. He struggles to operate Santa’s sleigh, delivers presents to the wrong recipients, and unintentionally creates Christmas chaos wherever he goes. Santa awakens and is aghast at what he sees, leaving Yellow concerned that he ruined Christmas. But as strangers spill out of their homes to deliver the misplaced gifts to their rightful owners, it becomes clear that Yellow has, as Red points out, made Christmas even better.

“Faint 2” premiered during the Christmas Tree Lighting Broadcast from Rockefeller Center, another long-standing holiday tradition. The first tree lighting ceremony took place in 1933, and the ceremony began broadcasting on national TV in 1951. A few days after the ad’s initial release, Mars told TODAY Food in a statement that the company was “Excited to check off a gift that’s been on our fans’ ‘wish list’ for more than 20 years: an ending to the iconic ‘Faint’ commercial. We want to bring everyone together with M&Ms once again this holiday season by highlighting the true meaning of Christmas for a new generation of fans.”