M&M's Benches Spokescandies After Going All-In On Wokeness
M&M/Mars is the latest company to learn that most consumers are finished with woke politics being injected into anything and everything. This, as it turns out, applies to anthropomorphic M&M's as well.
Just a few weeks ago, M&M's trotted out special packs that "flipped the status quo" by including only green, purple, and brown. Why those colors? Because in the company's marketing, those are the female characters.
Congrats, M&M's. Sticking it to the misogynists who pick out all the greens, purples, and browns.
However, it wasn't long before the company got cold feet after hearing it from people who called them on their ridiculous act of virtue-signaling.
On Monday, the company posted a statement on social media in which it announced that the spokescandies — all of them — were being benched.
In their place: Maya Rudolph.
*crickets*
My favorite line in there is "we're all about bringing people together." I can't tell you how many times I've built relationships with people over a shared love of M&M's.
Oh, wait; yes I can, it's zero.
Guys, you make candy. Get over yourselves.
M&M's is the latest company to find out that progressive grandstanding doesn't translate to sales. (Photo by: Jeff Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
M&M's Learned First Hand That Cramming Progressive Talking Points Doesn't Lead To Sales
I think what sticks in people's craw when it comes to corporations leaning into progressive politics is it gets to a point where you can't escape it.
Most people prefer just grabbing a pack of candy without hearing a soliloquy on the company's stance on social issues.
No one has ever stood at a vending machine and wrestled with what to pick based on the respective company's stances on diversity and inclusion.
"I'm kind of in the mood for Reese's Pieces... but I like that M&M's is more outspoken on issues diversity and inclusion."
It doesn't happen, and yet companies like M&M/Mars go deeper and deeper into the depth of progressive politics, only for it to come back and bite them in the end.
In M&M's case, the real shark jump moment came several years ago. It was when the company seemed to allude to the brown and green M&M's being lesbians.
Perhaps the most telling thing is how quickly the company buckled. It doesn't believe in the woke politics it was peddling. If it did, it would've stood up for them, instead of folding like a cheap table at a Bills Mafia tailgate. The company got caught trying to play to progressive sensibilities for the sake of turning a profit. Yet, it's been proven time and time again that simply doesn't work.
Now, you can ask M&M's how that works.
Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle