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Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson (53) does not like this M&M’s ad at all.
The US food company Mars has stopped an advertising campaign for M&M’s chocolate candies after criticism from right-wing Fox News moderator Tucker Carlson (53). The company announced on Monday that it did not want to polarize with its advertising, but rather “bring people together”. Carlson had criticized the new M&M’s figures as “woke”.
In September, M&M’s introduced a new member of the “Spokescandies”, the talking chocolate beans: Purple. Like the previously introduced characters Green (Green) and Brown (Brown), this character is female – and according to the company, stands for “acceptance and inclusion”.
Purple is the color of the LGBTQ community, the letters stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer. There was criticism on the internet that M&M’s was politicizing the candy.
Criticism of “woken M&M’s”
Criticism flared up again in early January when M&Ms touted bags containing only purple, green and brown lentils as a temporary promotion. Far-right moderator Carlson sneered on Fox News, “the woken M&M’s are back”. Green is probably a lesbian, purple is fat. The term “woke” describes being “awake” to racist and discriminatory tendencies in a society.
About a year ago, Carlson had already criticized that Green no longer wore white shoes, but sneakers – that was “less sexy”. Mars won’t rest until every character is “completely unattractive and totally androgynous.”
M&M’s wrote on Twitter on Monday that it did not expect the excitement about the new figures on the Internet. But now “we have understood: Even the shoes of a candy can polarize”. But that “is the last thing we wanted. Our goal is to bring people together.” Advertising with the Spokescandies is therefore suspended “indefinitely”. M&M’s comedy star Maya Rudolph has been hired for new commercials. (AFP)