One of the world’s best-selling candies is getting a makeover. But it’s not what you think. Neither the taste nor the colors of M&Ms are changing. Yet Twitter and Instagram are imploding over the subtle “nuanced” changes in the M&M characters.
As Trevor Noah puts it, “who is this is helping?” Here’s what you need to know about the “all-inclusive” M&Ms.
M&Ms Have Become “Woke”
Mars Wrigley has decided the M&M characters need to be “woke” and so they have subtly changed all their six M&M characters. The candy company’s idea of inclusivity, surprisingly, is new shoes.
Green’s white go-go boots have gone and she’s now wearing sneakers instead. So apparently, you cannot be sexy and “woke” at the same time. Brown is still wearing her glasses and heels only now, the heel height is lower and more sensible. Red and Yellow’s shoes now have laces because that’s what inclusivity means, having shoes with laces.
Orange’s hitherto untied shoes laces are finally tied, even if his expression remains as anxious as ever. Blue’s shoes remain almost the same, although they seem to have been made uglier, if possible.
So the “female” M&Ms have been made less “sexier” in the name of inclusivity, while the male characters have been made more open of their foibles, and less aggressive, at least via their shoes.
Instagram is not pleased. As one IG user said, “What the hell have you done to Green?”
Is M&M Slut Shaming Green?
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The biggest change happened to Green. Gone are those white go-go boots and in place, there are sneakers because apparently, “sexy candy” is simply no longer in. Never mind the horrific M&M where Green is popping in Red M&Ms, causing the others to melt?
The “official” Green account is not happy with the change in the shoes, as Instagram user “greenmnmofficial” who has nothing to do with M&M per se, wrote, “as the official green MnM, I’m appalled I wasn’t consulted about this change before it came to fruition. my boots are a signature and taking them away and giving me K SWISS SNEAKERS??? doesn’t do anything for inclusivity. if anything, keeping the boots and not assigning a gender or prefix would support breaking gender stereotypes.”
The Question Of Consent
A Twitter user now has the ultimate question, “Should I ask for consent every time I happen to eat a green or brown M&M?”
More virulent comments followed as one Instagram user wrote, “This may be the dumbest thing yet pretty sure whenever I used to eat M&Ms I never felt left out and no one ever complained about being left out by M&Ms 🙄 If you want to make people feel included how about donate your candy to countries with people who can’t even afford clean water”.
Then there’s this ultimate rant, “Read the comments people! 1. Green and her boots – why take them away? how is giving her sneakers more inclusive? Giving me an “I’m not like other girls” vibe, and reinforcing the fact that you can’t be down to earth AND like shoes/be girly at the same time 2. Capitalizing on “woke” culture and emotionally manipulating people into buying a product with the promise of “it’s gonna make you feel included” is so f**ked up 3. The whole marketing scheme is soo cringe, seems like u need diversity on your marketing team to get some perspective on what is going on in the real world 😬”
Enough said. Here’s Trevor Noah’s take on it.
Finally, the change we’ve all been waiting for: M&Ms with more nuanced personalities. pic.twitter.com/CiKk4OjvRo
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 21, 2022
