Scraping the ad with ‘woke’ M&M chocolates is a media stunt – Wel.nl

All the animated chocolates in M&M’s commercials are shown regularly on television. The announcement came after the company had earlier announced that it would stop advertising. The decision has been taken following the uproar in the US that many celebrities have appeared. But cutting the ad before the Super Bowl, the final game of the American football season and one of the best television nights of the year, turns out to be a media stunt.

Earlier this week, M&M’s chocolate figurines made world news. In particular, right-wing news and opinion channel Fox News called them “woke”. Among other things, one of the female M&Ms, in green, has traded her pumps for sneakers, an attack on classic gender roles according to the American right. That is why the company has decided to advertise with comedian Maya Rudolph.

Yet the timing of M&Ms’ announcement was immediately called into question. For example, the chocolate company announced in December that Rudolph would star in an M&M’s ad around the Super Bowl. Turns out it was actually a publicity stunt. “The two reinvented characters, launched last year, will be the brand’s official spokespersons,” the company said.

M&M’s has been advertising with ‘red’ and ‘yellow’ talking chocolates for years. In recent years they have been increasingly joined by people of other colors.