M&M’s posted a message showing the company appears to be making a change to a campaign after sparking backlash.
“America, let’s talk. In the last year we’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies. We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice,” the company said in a statement.
It continued, “And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet. But now we get it – even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing. Which was the last thing M&M’s wanted since we’re all about bringing people together.”
The move to sideline the spokescandies came after an all-new purple cast member was introduced. This was done to create a “fresh, modern take” on the classic commercial characters that started with Red (Plain) and Yellow (Peanut).
Purple, which joined Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Brown, was “designed to represent acceptance and inclusivity,” according to USA Today.
The candy company shared they have “decided to take an indefinite pause from the spokescandies. In their place, we are proud to introduce a spokesperson America can agree on: the beloved Maya Rudolph.”
Concluding the message, the company said, “We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong.”
Read the statement below:
A message from M&M'S. pic.twitter.com/EMucEBTd9o
— M&M’S (@mmschocolate) January 23, 2023
Twitter was flooded with reactions to the message.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) replied, “Go woke, go broke.”
Go woke, go broke. https://t.co/2VruGqOZnA
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) January 23, 2023Do you think this makes things any better?
Director Robby Starbuck tweeted, “Lemme translate the corporate PR speak: They tried to go woke and it cut into their profits but instead of just going back to what worked and flat out admitting it was a fail, they fired the candies from their ads and hired a democrat comedian who raised millions for Kamala.”
Lemme translate the corporate PR speak: They tried to go woke and it cut into their profits but instead of just going back to what worked and flat out admitting it was a fail, they fired the candies from their ads and hired a democrat comedian who raised millions for Kamala. 🤡🤡 https://t.co/HfBTlxpuJ9
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 23, 2023
One tweet suggested the statement is “the very long way of saying ‘our profits went down in the last quarter because we embraced the poisonous ideology of wokeness.'”
This is the very long way of saying "our profits went down in the last quarter because we embraced the poisonous ideology of wokeness."#GoWokeGoBroke https://t.co/npzKr9NHXV
— Michael Seifert (@realmichaelseif) January 23, 2023
Read more tweets below:
Maya Rudolph is Black. Are you trying to say that Black people are chocolate candy?
— Lavern Spicer 🇺🇸 (@lavern_spicer) January 23, 2023
Well, now I just might be offended.
I'm not woke, am I doing this right? https://t.co/E6CxJKPCk2
Tl;dr go woke go broke.
— Jenna Ellis 🐊 (@realJennaEllis) January 23, 2023
…yet you guys still think it’s a good idea to replace “polarizing spokescandies” with a Democrat comedian Kamala 2.0 🤣🤡 https://t.co/TsPItAJZdk
if there was ever a time for skittles to announce that all the skittles are poly it's now https://t.co/uHeqP1sCqD
— Ashley Feinberg (ashleyfeinberg.bsky.social) (@ashleyfeinberg) January 23, 2023
https://twitter.com/MajorPhilebrity/status/1617562277544349696
Why does every company have to make a political statement? https://t.co/HAxpHIwA2U
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 23, 2023
Earlier this month, the candy company made waves after it announced it would be “celebrating women across the country who are flipping the status quo!”
Fox News’s Tucker Carlson took issue with the announcement saying on his show, “Woke M&M’s have returned.”
He added, “The green M&M got her boots back, but apparently is now a lesbian, maybe? And there’s also a plus-sized, obese purple M&M, so we’re gonna cover that, of course.”
