This coming weekend will see one of the biggest sporting events on the American calendar take place; the Super Bowl. However, the advertising that takes place during the commercial breaks is right up there with the football game itself as something people keenly mark their calendars to check out. And this year M&M's are being treated to a very special 30-second ad slot.

Promotional Campaign Featuring M&M's T-Shirts

While we're all familiar with M&M's candy-coated chocolate from the Mars Corporation, this year's Super Bowl commercial from the company takes things a step in the weird direction with a new campaign focused on one of their cartoon confectioners ("Red") coming to life as a human -- played with gusto by legendary comic actor, Danny DeVito. In the 30-second commercial (which will make its TV debut during the Super Bowl) the smart-talking chocolate candy Red makes a wish on a magic penny and is transformed into a human - however, his insistence that others eat him doesn't have nearly the same impact coming from a human!

Millions of dollars were poured into the making of the commercial and its various teasers, with shooting taking a full 12 hours and dozens of hard-working staff. One of the most perplexing questions the team behind the ad had to struggle with was how do they make DeVito portray the well-known cartoon Red? After much debate they settled on an incredibly simple costume that looks perfect for the part; a red promotional t-shirt with the classic "M" logo on it. Not only does this mirror how the confectionery looks in real life, it means DeVito's transformation into Red looks so perfect you could almost believe it!

While we're not sure we'd be keen to go swimming in chocolate like DeVito, we're keen to watch the full ad and enjoy M&M's having their big screen moment courtesy of a humble t-shirt and a lot of behind-the-scenes effort!

Campaign first spotted here: http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/inside-mms-quest-to-turn-its-spokescandy-red-into-a-human-for-the-super-bowl/