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Of course the M&M’s spokescandies change was actually a Super Bowl stunt

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M & M’s To Withdraw Cartoon Candies After “Woke” Criticism From The Right Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Ana Diaz (she/her) is a culture writer at Polygon, covering internet culture, fandom, and video games. Her work has previously appeared at NPR, Wired, and The Verge.

Good news: The non-sexy green M&M is coming back! On Monday, M&M’s parent company Mars Wrigley announced that it would be pulling its M&M’s ‘spokescandies’ mascots indefinitely and replacing them with the actor Maya Rudolph. However, the company told the New York Times on Friday that the controversial move was all just a PR stunt, and that the spokescandies will indeed return at the upcoming Super Bowl.

“Rest assured, the characters are our official long-term spokescandies,” Mars Wrigley said in a statement to the New York Times. The mascots are taking a break for the time being, but the M&M’s Super Bowl ad will resolve the situation and bring back the spokescandies, a representative for the company said.

The twisting story started roughly a year ago, when Mars Wrigley rebranded the mascot candies to become more inclusive and reflect more modern sensibilities. For example, the green M&M was changed so she had shorter legs and stopped wearing high heels. The redesign prompted backlash from far-right pundits like Tucker Carlson, who criticized the changes as “woke.”

Although no recent changes had been announced, Carlson brought up the spokescandies once again in recent weeks. Then on Monday, Mars Wrigley made its announcement about the spokescandies’ “indefinite pause.” The puzzling decision referenced the “polarizing” nature of the green M&M’s shoes, so it appeared to be meant to temper the right-wing backlash. However, the company had also announced just last month that it would have an M&M’s ad campaign tied to the Super Bowl. Now we know that it was all just one giant troll.

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