M&M’s, the popular chocolate candy owned by Mars Wrigley, announced Monday that it was taking an “indefinite pause” from using its “spokescandies” in advertisements following criticisms from some in the media.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticized the candies during a recent segment over changes that the company made to the appearances of the spokescandies.
“M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous,” Carlson said. “Until the moment when 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. They’ve won.”
Carlson declared that “woke M&M’s have returned” the company introduced new spokescandies.
“The green M&M’s got her boots back but apparently is now a lesbian, maybe, and there is also a plus-sized, obese purple M&M’s,” he said. “So we’re going to cover that, of course. Because that’s what we do.”
M&M’s tweeted a statement on Monday saying that the company has paused their use of the spokescandies and had instead selected someone else to represent the company.
“America, let’s talk,” the statement said. “In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our spokescandies. We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet. But now we get it — even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing.”
“Therefore, we have decided to take an indefinite pause from the spokescandies,” the statement continued. “In their place, we are proud to introduce a spokesperson America can agree on: the beloved Maya Rudolph. We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong.”
The company was widely mocked online over the statement while others suggested that the supposed controversy was pointless and not worth people’s time.
“You mean, your sales dipped after going woke and you don’t want to admit it outright?” radio host Jason Rantz tweeted.
Political commentator Tatjana Pasalic tweeted, “I am once again begging @elonmusk to give us a parody or real button.”
“Nobody cares about your spokescandies,” journalist Ian Miles Cheong tweeted.
Grabien News founder Tom Elliott tweeted, “Just do your shareholders a favor & fire this entire department.”
Rival candy company Skittles also jumped in on the fun, tweeting: “Our thoughts go out to the spokescandies.”
Our thoughts go out to the spokescandies https://t.co/ub8iPHCq5d
— SKITTLES (@Skittles) January 23, 2023