How M&M’s is ‘trendjacking’ the Super Bowl

If you’re reading this, it means the M&M’s have won.

Let’s back up: Last month, Fox News host Tucker Carlson joined the chorus of conservative voices criticizing Mars Wrigley for giving its chocolate-y M&M mascots what they deemed a “woke” makeover. The green M&M “spokescandy” – you know, the full-lipped one, in go-go boots, that even other M&M’s crave – was given comfortable sneakers to soothe its arches, a fashion choice that rankled Carlson.

“M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous,” he said on his show.

But Mars Wrigley has parlayed the controversy into what amounts to free advertising for its new spokesperson, Maya Rudolph, “trendjacking” the situation. Late last month, M&M’s said on Twitter that it was “taking an indefinite pause from the spokescandies,” plugging Rudolph in a wooden corporate statement that was instantly skewered. By co-opting the furor over the so-called woke M&M’s – and generating scores of news stories – the candy maker managed to wring millions of dollars’ worth of promotion from journalists around the world.

That attention will only amplify the company’s recent ad campaign featuring Rudolph, which will conclude during the Super Bowl broadcast on Sunday and probably cost a small fortune, given the roughly $7 million price tag for 30-second spots. Despite declining audiences for traditional TV, the Super Bowl has endured as one of the last communal viewing experiences, and ads sold out near the end of January for this year’s game.

Gabrielle Wesley, the chief marketing officer of Mars Wrigley North America, said the company planned to bring back its talking M&M’s in a Super Bowl ad, confirming that the company’s recent tweets were all part of an “integrated campaign.”

“We’re excited to come together with the rest of America and share the resolution of our campaign, the return of our fun M&M’s characters, and the purpose-driven work we do to create a world where everyone belongs,” she said.

Stories about the M&M’s fracas, including the one you’re reading now, are likely to result in additional buzz for the Super Bowl commercial and maybe even more sales, said Harlan Spotts, a professor of marketing at Western New England University who studies the interaction between social media and TV ads. Spotts recalled a 2020 campaign in which Planters euthanized its monocled mascot, Mr. Peanut, only to replace him with an infant peanut in another ad during the Super Bowl.

“If you generate that interest ahead of the game, you get higher brand engagement during the game,” Spotts said.

In the case of Mars Wrigley, the conversation around “woke” candies will be blunted somewhat by the Super Bowl ad. As another fictional character, the suave ad man Don Draper, is famous for saying, “If you don’t like what is being said, change the conversation.”