M&Ms unveils 'progressive' move to desexualize mascots and focus on 'their personalities, rather than their gender'

On Thursday, the M&Ms brand announced an overhaul to the personalities of their company mascots. They want to modernize the characters in a way they believe will resonate more with today's general public.

According to CBS, other changes to the brand include candies of all shapes and sizes, and shifting away from "prefixes" for individual character names to instead focus on "their personalities, rather than their gender."

King of the market in the United States, what did the Mars Corporation have to say in their press release announcement revealing the changes?

"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. 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."

The slogan for the new M&Ms campaign is "for all funkind."

Mars also announced they’re starting a fund program that will ensure they keep in touch with their mission and  "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."

The news led to mixed reactions on social media.

"so much m&m discourse and i have yet to see anyone talk about the fact that the green m&m is a trans icon"

"orange will acknowledge his anxiety"

"The green M&M, newly liberated from her white boots, lets loose. She talks social reproduction theory, how patriarchy and capitalism violently reinforce each other, and what a sexy lady M&M says about gender as a construct."

"red m&m died on a peloton"

"the yellow m&m will now post "step on me goddess" at the green m&m. the blue one believes in hyperborea"

In terms of people’s reactions to the news, the biggest surprise for the M&Ms Twitter account was the decision to give the green M&M sneakers to replace her previous white go-go boots. The way Rolling Stone framed the change was that the candy company was toning down the sexualization of the mascot.

The move for M&M’s social media branding comes after their campaign for the 2021 holiday season died down.