M&M Mayhem

Photo from today.com

The world has become a unique place. Only in 2023 could a beloved candy become the source of political polarization, a Twitter blowup and a skeptical publicity stunt. That’s right, your favorite candy can now be turned into a controversy. This time around, it’s M&M’s.

Around a year ago, M&M’s announced minor changes to their characters to match the forward thinking, diversity and inclusion efforts most companies were incorporating into their brands. This has to do with brands trying to keep up with the Gen Z progressive generation and adapting to the current political environment.  

Photo from tmz.com

The main changes the M&M corporation made were to the green M&M, who originally was known for her long lashes, stilettos and confident attitude. The new green character now has sneakers instead of tall knee-high heels, shorter eyelashes with toned down makeup and even a new voice. The goal of these changes was to make the green M&M less sexy and more tom-boyish, embracing the idea that non-binary is sexy too. According to the Mars company, the changes were in order to start “creating a world where everyone feels they belong,” and to promote “confidence and empowerment, as a strong female, and known for much more than her boots.”

But in what way does that make the candy more progressive? Feminists online were upset with the change because of the implications: making her less sexy means the green M&M can’t be confident and attractive at the same time. Why would putting her in sneakers instead of heels be an empowering change? Conservatives, on the other hand, were upset that the brand was making any change to keep up with the new progressive generation. It seems that no matter what M&M was going to change, it would anger someone. 

Photo from consequence.net

These changes, originally made in January 2022, were brought up again recently by Fox personality host, Tucker Carlson. In a recent segment Carlson complained about the changes, stating “The green M&M got her boots back, but apparently is now a lesbian maybe? And there is also a plus-sized, obese purple M&M.” The quote became very popular, and sparked conversations about M&M’s changes. Everyone seemingly had an opinion, posting everything from memes to political analysis.

Due to the explosion in recent popularity and pushback against the new M&M changes, M&M announced it would be getting rid of the iconic characters, and that they would be getting a new human spokesperson, Maya Rudolph. This caused even more chaos in the media, and, of course, a whole new frenzy of tweets, memes and anger.

Photo from polygon.com

However, the brand more recently announced that the characters will be making a comeback during the Super Bowl. On Jan. 27, a spokesperson from Mars Wrigley confirmed that the iconic candy characters would be featured in their upcoming Super Bowl commercial. People are now looking forward to the commercial and wondering how the brand will continue to tackle all the press around its characters. This has caused speculation about the company doing all of this as a publicity stunt in order to raise the popularity of the brand. If it is just a press stunt, it certainly caused some controversy.

What are your thoughts on M&M’s recent publicity? Tell us how you feel by tweeting us @VALLEYmag

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