M&Ms, Rock Divas, and CPI

“A Bowl of M&Ms (ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES!)” was a rider in Van Halen’s contract with music venues. For years it was held up as an example of outrageous diva behavior of rock stars. A business law professor of mine even talked about it in class. It wasn’t until I got into process improvement that I heard the rest of the story and the brilliance behind the rider.

When Van Halen toured in the 1980’s they revolutionized rock concerts with huge fantastic sets and giant sound systems. Before them, most bands would show up with perhaps 3 semi-trailers worth of equipment. Van Halen had NINE! They were also one of the first A-List rock bands to go into the third-level markets…where the venues were old and outdated. The contract contained a lot of technical specifications about the stage setup, weight requirements, and tons of other items that not only impacted the quality of the show but the actual safety of the band members. So they created a little test to see if the contract was thoroughly read.

Buried in the middle of the 53-page contract, in a list of refreshments for the band was the following:

If the band walked into the dressing room and found Brown M&Ms, they knew the contract had not been thoroughly read, and they’d do a complete line check of every item…because they knew they’d find technical errors.

This happened at a university show in Pueblo, Colorado. Entering the band area, there were brown M&Ms (which led to lead singer David Lee Roth “having a bit of fun” and trashing the buffet table). So it was clear the contract was not throughly read, and sure enough…the stage had not been reinforced to support the specified weight. The stage buckled and sank. $85,000 worth of damage, because the university staff didn’t read the contract.

So what appears to be diva behavior is actually a brilliant construct of visual management as a check on compliance.

There are a few other similar stories out there.

Sex Helped Sell Good Will Hunting

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon had a few notable roles under their belts when they decided to write the script for Good Will Hunting. They eventually sold the story to Castle Rock Films but grew disenchanted. The company was asking for re-writes which Ben and Matt wrote but were not getting any feedback. They felt nobody was reading the revisions. To test this, they included some completely out-of-place sex scenes. When nobody called them out, their suspicions were confirmed.

This, coupled with some creative differences, led to an ultimatum. Castle Rock agreed to release the story if Ben and Matt could find somebody else to buy the script and give the money back. If not, Castle Rock would keep the script, fire the actors, and make the movie without them.

The stakes were high, but Ben and Matt wanted to make sure people were reading the script. So, they kept the ill-fitting sex scene buried in the script. As the script was shopped around, many expressed interest, but nobody commented on the odd out-of-place scene in the middle. It wasn’t until producers at Miramax studios told Ben and Matt it was a good script, but they needed to drop the sex scene. That’s when Ben and Matt knew they found the right studio to make the movie which went on to win multiple Oscars, including Best Original?Screenplay.

Red Dots instead of Brown M&Ms

A few years ago, I got to see this “Brown M&M” principle in action. I was visiting an Air Force base, helping with a process improvement event. I was a fly on the wall for a Wing Commander’s staff meeting. Various leaders were giving status updates. In the middle of one update, the Commander stopped the brief and began asking very detailed questions. From these questions, it was clear the status report was not accurate and things had been pencil whipped…marked as complete when in fact they were not.

I was amazed at how the Commander seemed to zero in on this one specific update. Later that day I had lunch with him and asked him about it. He gave a slight chuckle and told me he had a test. He had all his folks use a color-coded chart for updates. Red, Yellow, or Green. Every unit had to report on their Family Readiness status. There was a goal in that program that was unattainable so that program should never show up as green, the best it could be was yellow. If the status slide had a green dot next to Family Readiness, the Commander knew the report was bullshit and was a sign to ask questions. It was pretty cool to see that in action.

Online Brown M&Ms

The Brown M&M principle has subtly made its way into the interactive world. You’ve likely taken a survey where buried in the middle, is some seemingly random question that directs you to give a specific answer (e.g. Please type BROWN in the text box.) If you successfully complete the question, they know you’ve been paying attention. If you don’t then they take your answers with a grain of salt.

You may also see it in job applications or other online forms. In the middle of the mundane questions, they direct you to answer a specific question or ask you a seemingly random question, such as your favorite color (which, I think, should be BROWN). This can serve as a cue that you’re engaged.

A little know principle, best known as a rock ‘n roll diva story…you gotta love the wonderful world of continuous process improvement.

Have you seen an instance of The Brown M&M Principle? If so, please share in the comments…