By: Brendan Moore

Sports Editor

The popular candy brand M&Ms recently began making adjustments to their commercial M&M candy characters. However, these modifications to include more diversity have not been accepted by everyone. Fox News host Tucker Carlson released several statements on social media expressing his anger over the changing characters by one of candy’s biggest sellers. Carlson became upset by the lack of “sexiness” from the new M&M mascots.

The M&M cartoon characters feature two females depicted as the green and brown M&M. Both characters had their outfits modified. The new cartoons picture the brown-colored M&M with shorter heels while the green one changed her footwear from knee-high boots to trainer shoes. Carlson lashed out stating, “M&Ms will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous. Until the moment you wouldn’t want to have a drink with any one of them. That’s the goal.”

 Carlson’s reaction to this incident is not unexpected given his previous disgruntled lectures regarding pop culture in society. These lectures include the cartoon character Elmo and his concerns about the Black Lives Matter movement, along with his support for ending the production of Dr. Seuss books. This is also not the first time M&M has been the target of Carlson regarding their candy cartoons. The Fox News host attacked the newly introduced purple M&M character last year, calling the cartoon “obese.” Carlson’s comments appear questionable as the yellow and blue candy characters, who are males, are extremely similar in shape and size. 

Carlson’s actions received immediate attention from the M&M candy brand. In response to his remarks, M&M replaced their candy spokespersons with comedian and actress Maya Rudolph, who is best known for her role on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. M&M feels confident with their new spokesperson selection, declaring:“We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong.” M&M also tweeted, “We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice,” in response to Carlson’s opinion regarding the changes made regarding the outfits of the candy characters. M&M continued by announcing, “But now we get it — even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing.” The candy brand Skittles voiced their support for M&M by tweeting: “Our thoughts go out to the spokescandies.” M&M will now await Rudolph’s appearance in a commercial during Super Bowl LVII.

(Sources: Forbes, NPR)