Chocolate candy M&M’s announced Monday that it would be dropping its longtime mascots — or “spokescandies” — after criticism from conservatives ran rampant following a redesign of the cartoon characters.
Mars, the candy maker behind M&M’s, has utilized the group of cartoon characters for decades, dating back to 1960. In 2022, the company decided to give its mascots a rebrand, drawing from long-held beliefs that certain characters were too provocative.
For example, the green M&M had her knee-high heeled boots replaced with sneakers and the company placed more emphasis on her feminist values. “Orange” became a mascot riddled with anxiety, and the company added a new purple M&M, which was designed to promote inclusivity.
The redesigns caught the ire of conservatives, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson, at the time of the update and again in recent weeks. Carlson was joined in his outrage by several other Fox News hosts, including Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Watters.
Tucker: M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous. Until the moment you wouldn’t want to have a drink with any one of them. That’s the goal. When you’re totally turned off, we’ve achieved equity… pic.twitter.com/rz7VtVCHWu
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 22, 2022
In another M&M segment, Carlson returned to his tirade over the rebrand, saying “Woke M&M’s have returned. 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. So we’re going to cover that, of course, because that’s what we do.”
“In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies. We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet,” M&Ms said in a statement Monday on Twitter. “Now we get it — even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing … Therefore, we have decided to take an indefinite pause on the spokescandies.”
The company said it would indefinitely pause using its spokescandies and would instead use comedian Maya Rudolph in their place.
“We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong,” the statement added.
Rudolph said she will take the place of the iconic mascots just ahead of Mars’ key Super Bowl advertising event: “I am a lifelong lover of the candy, and I feel like it’s such an honor to be asked to be part of such a legendary brand’s campaign,” she said in an interview Monday with NBC’s TODAY.
Yahoo Entertainment confirmed that the team of M&M mascots will continue to exist in other venues. A Mars spokesperson said to keep an eye on M&M’s social media channels to stay informed on the futures of the characters.
