New York (Trends Wide) — M&M’s made a statement with its new packaging, which features only female characters, including its newest member, Purple. What returned to put the company at the center of the controversy of the culture war.
Mars, the candy maker, announced that the limited edition packaging will only include Purple, Brown and Green, the trio of “female” characters, who appear upside down on the packaging to “celebrate women around the world who are changing the status quo”. The sweets with the new packaging are already on sale.
Purple, the figure that was announced last year (and the first new M&M’s character in a decade), is a purple peanut M&M. According to the brand, she is a singer who forgoes high heels for lace-up boots and has a flamboyant and self-assured personality.
“The M&M’s brand is on a mission to use the power of fun to create purposeful connections as we work to create a world where everyone feels they belong,” said Gabrielle Wesley, director of marketing for Mars Wrigley North America. in a press release.
An M&M package exclusively with female characters is already on sale. Courtesy of Mars
The packages come in three options: milk chocolate, peanut butter, and peanuts. Mars claims that a portion of the proceeds will go to organizations that “support women,” such as She Is The Music and We Are Moving the Needle, nonprofits that support women in the music industry.
The “girly” packaging quickly sparked “culture war” outrage on right-wing news networks and on social media. A Fox presenter said that the feminist packaging envalentona a China.
“If this is what you need to validate yourself, an M&M in the color you think is associated with feminism, then I’m worried about you,” host Martha MacCallum said Monday. “I think that makes China say, ‘Oh, good, keep focusing on that. Keep focusing on giving people their own color of M&Ms while we take over all the mineral deposits in the entire world.'”
One show graphic even described candy like “woke”.
Changes in M&M’s
As well as adding Purple to the range, M&M’s has made other changes to the 82-year-old brand in recent months, including retouching its logo and giving its six characters new shoes in an attempt to modernize their look.
Green traded boots for sneakers. Brown wears lower, more sensible heels. Red and Yellow’s shoes have laces. Orange’s shoelaces are no longer untied. And Blue’s shoes, though little changed, resemble what Anton Vincent, president of Mars Wrigley North America, described as “a bad version of Uggs.”
However, there was an overreaction to Green’s new shoes last year.
An op-ed in The Washington Post declared: “M&M’s changes are not progressive. Give Green back his boots.” In an article with a provocative headline, Rolling Stone described the change as “nothing but tectonic.” Thousands of people have signed a petition to “Keep Green M&Ms Sexy.”
Changes in beloved characters can elicit a strong response on social media. When Lola the bunny changed her look for the new Space Jam movie, for example, fans were also outraged.
Jane Hwang, vice president of global M&M’s, previously told Trends Wide that the reaction to Green’s change was “unprecedented.”
“We were incredibly overwhelmed,” he added. “Now we know for sure that M&M’s is a cultural icon.”
M&M’s has no plans to restore Green’s appearance. “The characters… are continually evolving to reflect the times we live in,” Hwang said, adding that the brand hopes consumers “know our characters for much more than just their shoes.”
— Danielle Wiener-Bronner contributed to this reporting.
