M&Ms Is Retiring Its Iconic Spokescandies Because Conservatives Can’t Get a Grip

Trans and girl boss M&M’s, we hardly knew you! 

This morning, the candy brand took to social media to announce that comedian Maya Rudolph will replace its iconic animated M&M characters: Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, and, most recently, the controversial Purple.

“In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies,” M&M’s wrote in an official statement. “We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet. But now we get it — even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing.”

So the brand has decided to take “an indefinite pause” from its mascots, which have been around since 1954, and bring Rudolph on board instead.

These changes come after M&M’s has faced a year’s worth of conservative pushback for updating its core characters. In January 2022, the company introduced redesigned versions of its mascots, getting rid of their white-toned limbs and giving them more gender-neutral appearances in general — which included swapping the “sexy” Ms. Green’s go–go boots for some sneakers. This led Fox pundits like Tucker Carlson and Greg Gutfield to whine about the Green M&M becoming one of several, and I quote, “non-binary bonbons.”

Trolls tried to launch another bizarre culture war last September when Purple was introduced as the company’s first new character in ten years alongside her song “I’m Just Gonna Be Me,” which M&M’s launched to benefit the non-profit Sing for Hope. Although Purple did get to keep a pair of chunky boots, conservative commentators soon claimed that she was “woke” and sarcastically joked that she might be trans.

But it seems like the candy brand’s last straw was the backlash that its limited edition “all-female” pack received. The pack includes only the candy’s trio of female characters — Brown, Green, and certified trans icon Purple — who appear upside-down on the packaging to “celebrate women everywhere who are flipping the status quo.” Although a portion of the profits goes to nonprofit organizations supporting women in the music industry, complaints that the candy had gone “woke” almost immediately popped up online and on right-wing news networks, with Fox anchor Martha MacCallum even arguing that the pack will enable China as a world power, which…sure.

So yes, M&M’s would rather align themselves with national treasure Rudolph instead of dealing with right-wing news segments every time a female-coded candy cartoon gets some new footwear. At least the Twitter reactions to their announcement were predictably hilarious.

The trans purple M&M will be forever in our hearts!

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