M&M’s removes mascots after public accuse action of sexist

Actress and comedian Maya Rudolph will take over the advertising pieces for the brand

A decision by M&M’s about their traditional mascots generated controversy among fans of the candy. The fact is that the Mars brand decided, in 2022, that it would redesign its characters so that they would be more inclusive, including the same number of male and female characters.

The decision did not please some of the brand’s fans, who began to demonstrate both on social networks and in front of M&M stores in the United States. The public’s refusal meant that, this Monday (23), the brand’s official profile on Twitter stated that it will remove its mascots from its campaigns indefinitely and, in their place, the pieces will star by actress Maya Rudolph.

“America, let’s talk. In the last year, we’ve had some changes to our mascots. We weren’t sure if anyone would notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the Internet. But now we understand: even candy cane shoes can be polarized. It was. It’s the last thing M&Ms wanted as our goal is to bring people together,” the brand said in the statement.

The actress and comedian’s first appearance in M&M’s plays will take place during Super Bowl LVII, which takes place on February 12, and which marks Mars’ return to the event.

understand the case
In September 2022, M&M’s launched a campaign that aimed to honor women who are leaders, entitled “Flipping the Status Quo”, and presented its new character who became part of the female team of mascots, composed of green, brown it’s purple. The action was taken to announce a special edition of the candy that would have a portion of the profit destined to support women in the creative industry.

Despite the good intentions, the campaign was not well received by the public. The presentation of a female brand character that did not carry patriarchal traits generated criticism of the brand.

The negative gained strength with media people like Tucker Carlson, journalist and presenter of Fox News, and influencer Nick Adams. Carlson pointed out, during a program, that one of the brand’s mascots would be a lesbian and stated that another would be “obese”, in addition to other comments from people who are part of the broadcaster’s professional body.

In the case of the influencer, Adams called the campaign “sexist”, saying that “masculinity was under attack”.