M&M mascots.

M&M mascots.
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Dispute over new M&M colour

TV presenter freaks out because of M&M’s advertising – and the manufacturer gives in.

The US food company Mars Wrigley has stopped an advertising campaign for its M&M chocolate products. As part of the so-called ‘Spokescandies’ – talking chocolate lentils – an M&M in purple was presented. According to Mars, this female figure was supposed to stand for inclusion and acceptance with purple seen as the colour of the LGBTQ community.

But the CEO had not reckoned with the subliminal anger of the right-wing TV station Fox News, with host Tucker Carlson, whose outbursts on TV are legendary, labelling the campaign “woke” and making shallow jokes about the other M&M colours, saying green probably stood for lesbian.

Mars reacted promptly, but not as expected: the campaign was immediately stopped because they did not want to “create a stir”. They say that the commercials with the purple figure will not be used again until further notice. Carlson reacted to the withdrawal of the ad campaign with a victory lap on his news show.

Falstaff Editorial Team
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