M&Ms ‘Inclusive’ Redesign Just Slut-Shamed The Green One & The Internet Is Not Happy About It
Give her those stiletto boots back.
Twitter / Mars Inc. If you visited any website or social media app with a “trending” tab in the last 24 hours, there’s a high likelihood that you’ve seen something about M&M’s and their newest announcement — and if you haven’t, I’m going to explain to you why the internet is all riled up with the news.
For whatever reason — maybe it’s their New Year’s Resolution — the company behind M&M’s, Mars Incorporated, decided to do a fresh little rebranding of their “spokescandies,” the M&M’s.
However, the internet isn’t too happy about the changes they made to a fan favorite.
The internet is reacting negatively to the green M&M’s redesign.
I think I speak for many when I say that the green M&M used to be a cultural icon — albeit a very weird one.
RELATED: 26 Best Edible Valentine's Day Gifts For Your Boo
The M&M’s were always goofy little characters that represent the candy that made them, except for the green one — because as one news site wrote it, she was a lot of people’s sexual awakening.
Yes, let’s get out with it and just admit that the green M&M was sexy, okay? It’s okay to say that, I mean, they did it on purpose. They literally made several commercials where the green M&M was the eye candy, no pun intended.
The old character design featured knee-high stiletto boots and luscious lips with lipstick that matched her (green) skin tone.
The new character design? She’s wearing all-white Adidas Superstar’s and now has very normal, not very luscious, lips — and the internet is furious.
This is all part of their new campaign where they’re trying to be more inclusive, titling the announcement “one for all & all for fun.”
“M&M’S is a chocolate brand on a mission,” they announced in their new statement. “We believe in championing the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong.”
The M&M mission statement emphasizes the word, “fun,” using the word six times in the small announcement, but they expand on their statement on the actual Mars website, and explain exactly what they mean and want to accomplish.
“M&M’S has been around for more than 80 years and this year the brand continues to evolve to reflect the more dynamic, progressive world that we live in,” they wrote. “And as part of this evolution, built on purpose, M&M’S promises to use the power of fun to include everyone with a goal of increasing the sense of belonging for 10 million people around the world by 2025.”
Although instead of reflecting on the progress we’ve made as a society, this de-slutification is more of a regression than anything.
As part of their statement they mentioned that the green M&M is "embracing confidence and a new pair of kicks."
Now, I don't want to tell the Miss Green what she can and can't wear but I'd say she seemed pretty confident in her signature boots until now!
Mars seems to mean well, mentioning a real purpose and platform that will help people and provide resources for people in the arts and entertainment departments.
“The brand has also introduced the M&M’S FUNd to track the brand’s impact on our mission,” they continued, “which will offer resources, mentorship, opportunities and financial support in the arts and entertainment space to help ensure people have access to experiences where everyone feels they belong.”
Everyone but the sexy, green M&M apparently.
All jokes aside, what Mars is doing with the rebranding and the new mission sounds like a really great idea, and while a lot of people are probably just joking around and don’t really care about a humanoid candy losing its signature look, they’re getting a lot of heat for changing her image.
In an attempt to be more inclusive and appeal to the “woke” youth that is buying all of their candy, they’ve somehow missed the mark by slut-shaming the green M&M.
This reintroduction of all of the M&M characters is a massive brand failure, something we love to see in a society ruined by capitalism, and will likely be revisited and changed once Mars realizes their company’s value has depreciated all because of some stiletto boots.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.