M&M's Confirms The 'Spokecandies' Redesign Hiatus Is A Super Bowl Ad Stunt, And People Are At Their Limit

For over a year, Americans have been forced to consider the role the M&M's spokescandies play in their lives after the Mars company announced in January 2022 it would slightly alter the personalities of the cast of M&M mascots to be a little more diverse and inclusive.

This appeared to come to a head when the backlash against M&Ms, spearheaded by some conservative media outlets, led Mars to announce earlier this week it was putting an indefinite pause on its redesigned characters since they were so divisive.

At the time, critics bemoaned the fact we lived in such a universe where backlash to a less sexy Green M&M (among other minor changes) was cause for a national controversy, but others suspected Mars was merely pulling a viral marketing stunt (similar to what Planters did with its Baby Nut fiasco) and that this was all an elaborate set up for a Super Bowl commercial.

Earlier today, Mars confirmed those who speculated exactly this were right.

Hard hitting reporting by @evepeyser, confirming that the viral M&Ms thing is indeed a Super Bowl stunt https://t.co/aF2P2SmY37 pic.twitter.com/oLaErRADnZ

— Kevin Nguyen (@knguyen) January 27, 2023

In a statement on the stunt, a Mars Wrigley representative told the New York Times this morning that the anthropomorphic candies aren't going anywhere.

"Rest assured, the characters are our official long-term spokescandies," the rep said. “The iconic M&M’s characters are in fact spending some time pursuing their other passions” ahead of the Super Bowl. The upcoming Super Bowl ad will put "the characters right where they belong at the heart of the brand."

This statement is a far cry from the company's tweeted statement on Monday that made it sound like the M&Ms were in cancelation jail for tearing America apart. Earlier this week around social media, they were then called cowardly for appearing to give in to conservative outrage over their cartoon mascots. After three days of memes, it appears they've given up on the bit.

The bewildering week in M&M-dom hopefully heralds the end of this portion of the entire M&M controversy. However, while Mars may have made the population consider the "controversy" surrounding its spokescandies, others have not forgotten about the controversy surrounding its child slavery lawsuit as some speculate the whole thing was merely an attempt to create a distraction.

wow this m&ms statement is crazy pic.twitter.com/YJSO2IdExv

— Sean Morrow (@snmrrw) January 25, 2023