In spite of the Announcement M&M’s made this week — that the company would be taking “an indefinite hiatus” from its spokespeople in favor of “beloved” actress Maya Rudolph — the truth is, they’re not actually going anywhere.
“Rest assured, the characters are our official long-term ghosties,” a company representative wrote in an email. While “the iconic M&M characters actually spend some time pursuing their other passions” ahead of the Super Bowl, during the big game the commercial will resolve the issue and “return the characters to where they belong in the heart of the game.” Brand. “
In the past year it became clear that M&Ms evoke strong feelings. Changes to the product itself caused little controversy – the candy-coated chocolates have announced new refills, like Caramel Cold Brew, have remained fundamentally the same anyway, but when it comes to marketing, the brand has a knack for stirring up controversy. Fox News host Tucker Carlson, in particular, has become one of M&M’s biggest haters, grumbling about the company’s perceived vigilance on his nightly show.
To understand the latest development in candygate, it may be helpful to go back to January 2022, when M&M’s renamed its spokescandies with inclusiveness in mind. The orange M&M hugged his Anxiety Disorder (an attempt to ramp up its existing attraction to Gen Z, the company said at the time), and the formerly “sexy” green M&M traded her high-heeled boots for sensible sneakers.
The response online was overwhelming. Millennials and Zoomers who had only known a world of an eroticized green M&M jokingly demanded that the company return the ghost candy to its carnal form. Soon after, the candy was drawn into the culture wars. Mr. Carlson expressed his preference for a sexy green M&M and devoted a segment to his show’s rebranding, highlighting the chyrons “PROGRESS AT LAST: PLAIN, FRUMPY M&M CANDY” and “MISERABLE, NON-INSIDE CANDY IS ALL WE DESERVE.”
“M&Ms won’t be satisfied until every last cartoon character is very unattractive and totally androgynous,” said Mr. Carlson.
Since then, the candy mascots’ cultural cachet has only grown. In September, Mars introduced a brand new spokescandy, a purple M&M “designed to represent acceptance and inclusion,” the company said in a statement. pronunciation. She broke the glass ceiling by becoming the first female peanut M&M, but managed to evade Mr. Carlson’s wrath until this month, when Mars made a limited edition packages of M&Ms containing only the colors associated with the female characters (green, purple and brown). “Woke M&Ms are back,” stated Mr. Carlson. Another Fox News host said Feminism brand packaging of M&M’s will help China take over the world.
Many have interpreted M&M’s recent decision to sack its spokespersons as the company giving in to Mr. Carlson’s criticism. But the brand has something else on its mind: “We are confident that fans who will appreciate the purpose of the M&M’S brand and the revamped characters launched over the past year will be pleased,” the M&M’s representative wrote, referring to the run-up. to the Super Bowl, one of the most important events in advertising.
“The mistake M&M’s made was not owning the story,” says Alex Center, who previously worked as a designer and brand strategist for Coca-Cola, and has also worked on campaigns for New Balance and Apple. “They didn’t embrace the conversation that was going on about their brand. They tried to push it one way with a happy message of unity.”
Debbie Millman, the co-founder and president of the School of Visual Arts’ graduate program in branding, agreed that M&M’s handled the backlash against the rebrand badly. The spoke suspension, she said, amounted to a backlash on inclusivity, even though it was meant to be a lead-up to the Super Bowl ad.
“If they really believed in inclusion, if they really believed in representation in these speaking lists, they absolutely should have known it was going to be polarizing,” Ms Millman said. “If they really wanted to make a change and stand for what they believed in, they should have the backbone to stick with it.”
“Being culturally relevant is a good thing,” said Mr. Center on the situation M&M’s is in. The company should explicitly embrace its position on the front lines of the culture wars, he continued, and use this moment to poke fun at itself.
But the response reflects a broader trend of legacy brands trying, and often failing, to connect with a new audience of socially conscious young people.
Mrs. Millman contrasted the M&M’s debacle with Nike’s campaign with Colin Kaepernick in 2018. “When that relationship was first announced, people were running over their Nike sneakers, burning them and trashing them. People thought Nike made a mistake,” she said. “Three months later, Nike’s market share had increased. Brands now have to take risks if they want to form meaningful connections with their constituents.”
Legacy brands have found it difficult to connect with young people, especially when their ad campaigns address social justice issues. In 2019 Burger King introduced a line of its alternative “mood meals” that exist in opposition to the Happy Meal (e.g., the “Blue Meal”, the “DGAF Meal”, the “Yaas Meal”) in a campaign related to mental health awareness. Pepsi waded into similar territory with a commercial starring model and reality TV star Kendall Jenner in which she gives a police officer a Pepsi while attending a protest.
“It’s a tricky, dangerous position when brands use very real, very human challenges that we face as a society, to insert that into your advertising and marketing and put your brand right in the middle of it,” said Mr. Centre. “People, especially young people, are incredibly astute and incredibly aware that that’s what’s happening.”
Mr. Center believes that younger companies and organizations that don’t have an easily searchable history are better placed to connect with younger people.
Advertising is usually most effective when brands communicate their values rather than what they think young consumers want to hear.
M&M’s has yet to do that, but the company seems to be dangling its response to all this attention with its upcoming Super Bowl ad. Consumers will have to wait and see.