Nowadays, something like this can also be seen as somewhat insulting to a venue. We spend hours pouring over contract riders to make sure we meet the specifications, and many more hours pricing out the materials and labor necessary for an event. If the lead singer of the band is putting M&M clauses into riders, instead of the touring production manager dealing with the venue TD directly, there's already something wrong with the negotiations.
You're objecting to the idea of a litmus test. Forgive me, but that's really just pride giving you inflated confidence in your abilities. We all need checks and balances, and sometimes those checks and balances seem rather ridiculous (especially when imposed on us by those not directly associated with us).
I can't really comment on the legitimacy of the M&Ms thing, but multi-million dollar international operations aren't sustained by sticking to practices that don't work. That at least gives us a hint as to its effectiveness as a means of safeguarding the performers and audience.
It might be insulting to your venue, but other venues aren't as detailed as yours. And this process (or variation of) could still today provide an initial indicator that the venue is cutting corners and not following the details.
At the same time, you know that someone (the venue, the promoter, our the tour manager) is cutting corners when actual insightful communication isn't happening between all parties. Just as the tour will send a contract to the venue, the venue sends it's contract and technical specifications to the tour. The tone and types of communication with a venue or tour before they even get two cities away is just as good an indicator towards the likelihood of problems.
Nothing, not even brown M&Ms can make it so all of a sudden we don't need to communicate through the proper channels and follow procedures.
I get it, you're a professional. 30 years ago, you know when the IBM PC was introduced, the variation of quality of venues was likely higher. Big name, technical shows simply did not go to smaller venues, because they would fuck up.
It's not intended to be an attack on you. It's not an attack on your profession. It highlights how a professional organization can raise the quality of everyone they interact with. Like it or not, wal-mart makes its suppliers better. Maybe it takes talking, cajoling or even dirty tricks, but the key idea is you can make your suppliers better. Don't be afraid to be very sneaky in your thinking to get what you need from your suppliers.
You're absolutely the exception. It's still the case that many venues have lethal safety problems, often that go unfixed for years. I used to be a sound tech; Everyone I worked with knew somebody who had died on the job. Stages collapse, trap doors are left open, gantries fail, people get electrocuted.
It could be seen as an insult that all sensible musicians keep a socket tester and a RCD(GFCI) in their bag. Venues shouldn't have sockets(outlets) with reversed L/N or floating earth(ground), but they do. People die because of sloppy techs, cheapskate owners and lazy managers. If something gives a touring crew a bit of security, that's absolutely their right.
The M&M thing doesn't really seem much worse than current riders that include a bunch of food related items, like specifying what bottles of alcohol should be provided.
