M&Ms Halts Spokescandies After Recent Backlash
In the 82 years since the candy made its chocolatey debut, the company behind M&M's went from making the perfect treat for WWII soldiers (per HISTORY) to being accused by Rolling Stone of shaming the green M&M. Okay, let's back up a little.
After facing a sales road bump in the 90s, M&M's brand cemented itself as a pop culture icon when it decided to reinvigorate its presence by creating a cast of characters based on its delectable candies (via Insider). But among the walkin', talkin' M&M's we've grown to love was one that has often been criticized (per Daily Mail.com) — the gogo-boot strutting Green M&M, a character that has been touted, as Insider reports, as "the sexy one." However, as most of us already know, when the brand tried to give the Green M&M a design suited for "a more dynamic, progressive world" (per CBS News) by trading out the spokecandy's heels for sneakers, the internet nearly imploded.
However, social media did eventually move on from the incident. The world kept turning and the spokescandies kept appearing on M&M'S packages and commercials. But it seems all was not well with our favorite anthropomorphic candies after all. Because M&M's just announced on Twitter that it's halting the promotional use of its spokescandies.
It seems that M&M's is retiring its spokescandies
"Even a candy's shoes can be polarizing," wrote M&M's in the Twitter post announcement. According to the brand, after seeing the way the Green M&M's redesign caused such division among its fans it has decided to put the spokescandies on an "indefinite" hiatus. The company also reported that our M&M friends' spokesperson duties will be taken over by actor, comedian, and retired Saturday Night Live performer Maya Rudolph (per The Hollywood Reporter).
Many Twitter users seem overwhelmingly unsupportive of the decision to end the spokescandies' long history as the face of M&M's — especially over the Green M&M controversy. One poster wrote, "Shoes? This was about SHOES?" Another stated, "Is this some joke I'm not understanding?" But with the Super Bowl drawing near, others, however, were convinced the post was a fake out. Instead, these users are choosing to believe the announcement is a marketing tactic meant to set up a commercial for the big game.
Whether the news is true or not, Rolling Stone does report that this revelation comes right after the company launched special-edition packages focused on "flipping the status quo" earlier this January. The packages in question feature M&M's female characters, Green, Brown, and (the recently debuted) Purple. An admittedly strange move if the characters' time as M&M's mascots has truly come to an end. So we'll just have to wait and see if the Green M&M's new sneakers really did do the spokescandies in.