The Mars brand recently introduced Purple M&M.
M&M’s announced Monday that it is suspending a publicity campaign featuring its signature cartoon mascots after the so-called “spokescandies” became a target for a Fox News brand that labeled them “awakened.”
Dating back to 1941, M&M’s had tried to convey a message of diversity in their branding around different colors of the sugar shell chocolates.
The Mars-owned brand recently introduced Purple, a color commonly associated with the LGBTQ community, calling the addition a symbol of “acceptance and inclusiveness” in a September 2022 press release.
The candy maker followed suit in January with the launch of an M&M’s package containing only the female-identified candies: green, brown and purple, with money going to all-female music and business ventures.
But Fox News’ Tucker Carlson filmed the post earlier this month with the mocking “awakened M&Ms are back.”
Carlson, who has used his much-watched program to tout the racist “grand replacement theory” and other extremist views, also went on a rampage against M&Ms in January 2022 after the brand replaced the green character’s shoes with sneakers, which he called “less sexy.” ‘ found.
“M&Ms won’t be satisfied until every last cartoon character is very unappealing and totally androgynous,” said Carlson.
The company made no mention of Carlson on Monday when announcing the marketing hiatus, saying it didn’t think the character tweaks would “break the internet,” according to M&M’s on Twitter.
“But we get it now – even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing. That was the last thing M&M’s wanted as we all want to bring people together,” the brand said, adding that it has enlisted comedian Maya Rudolph as a spokesperson .
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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