Candy manufacturer Mars announced that the iconic M&M’s characters are getting personality makeovers – and the results demonstrate the lengths that agency marketing teams will go to spend every dime of the client’s budget. The efforts are described as “a modern makeover for a more dynamic, progressive world,” which is code for making them more millennial-friendly. Among the changes:
- The green M&M has ditched her go-go boots in favor of “cool, laid-back sneakers to reflect her effortless confidence.” Also, the green and brown M&Ms may be lesbians now.
- The brown M&M’s heels have been “lowered to a professional heel height.”
- The orange M&M will now lean into his anxiety and the red M&M will no longer bully his peers.
If you are looking for some consistency among all these changes, fear not – the yellow M&M is still an idiot.
Denver Public Relations Blog 
OY!
Oh boy.
Hmmmmmm.
That’s a lot of agency splaining.
While it was the companies goal to make the candies “millennialized,” I think it’s important to note that they missed the mark. It truly did more harm than good when looking at their mission of contributing to a more progressive world, under the assumption that this wasn’t done out of performative activism (which is most likely not the case- after all, this is corporate America). Instead, it portrays feminists and people in the LGBTQ+ community as submissive and not the strong, independent forces they have become.