Comedian Bo Burham has a hilarious bit in his Netflix special “Inside.” In it, he plays a social brand consultant, which is, sadly, a real thing.
“Consumers want to know: Are you willing to use your brand awareness to effect positive social change — which will create more brand awareness?” he says.
“The question isn’t what are you selling or what service are you providing? The question is, what do you stand for? Who are you — Bagel Bites? … The question is no longer, do you want to buy Wheat Thins, for example. The question is now, will you support Wheat Thins in the fight against Lyme disease?” Burnham says.
They say great comedy has a spark of truth in it, but this is getting out of hand.
The Hershey Company — yes, Hershey, the one that makes chocolate — celebrated International Women’s Day this week with a promotion that features a biological male who identifies as a woman. Why? Because that’s where we are, people.
The video clip shows Fae Johnstone, a transgender activist and director of the group called “Wisdom2Action.” The former male identifies as a “2SLGBTQUIA+” advocate (the acronym stands for “Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual”).
Johnstone promotes a limited-edition Hershey’s candy bar with his image on it that reads “HerShe” on the wrapper (you gotta wonder how much the company paid a team of creative consultants to come up with that one).
“We can create a world where everyone is able to live in public space as their honest and authentic selves,” Johnstone says in the video. “See the women changing how we see the future.”
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So let’s get this straight: Hershey set out to laud women on International Women’s Day by featuring a biological male in an ad talking about women changing the future?
The backlash was swift.
“@Hersheys is putting the face of a trans-‘woman’ on chocolate bar wrappers with ‘HerShe’ highlighted in honor of international women’s day. Hershey’s is erasing women,” the anti-woke LeftismForU wrote on twitter.
.@Hersheys is putting the face of a trans-"woman" on chocolate bar wrappers with "HerShe" highlighted in honor of international women's day.
Hershey's is erasing women. pic.twitter.com/JzRkAtwTdO— Leftism (@LeftismForU) March 1, 2023
The Federalist Editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway ripped Hershey, saying, “So @Hersheys is featuring a male in costume as a woman for its international women’s day ad campaign.”
The Federalist co-founder and CEO Sean Davis wrote, “Hershey’s is ‘honoring’ women by featuring delusional, disfigured men on its candy bars. Feel empowered yet, ladies?”
#BoycottHershey quickly began to trend. “It’s clear @Hersheys DOES NOT support real women. They only care about their bottom line. There will never be another Hershey product in my house. #BoycottHersheys,” one Twitter user wrote.
And Oli London, a transgender movement critic, got right to the nub: “The PR team at Hersheys had one job, and one job alone to Sell CHOCOLATE! How hard could it be? Well apparently too hard to resist as the company decided to go WOKE. So now they will go BROKE!”
Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boreing, who has a reputation for taking on woke companies, on Friday announced a new venture: Jeremy’s Chocolate. The candy bars, a “He/Him” version with nuts and a She/Her” without them is now available for pre-order in both varieties at ihatehersheys.com.
Here’s the final word: If you make chocolate, just make chocolate. We don’t need to know your stance on … everything. And we don’t need to know, Wheat Thins, if you’ll support the fight against Lyme disease. Just make crackers and shut up.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.