In what either is a spectacular diss a year in the making or a bizarre rebranding, M&M’s announced that Maya Rudolph will replace the animated “spokescandies” as the candy’s new face – literally. In the (first?) ad that M&M’S ran during the Super Bowl, Maya introduces a new world of candy that is without controversy but full of…clam taste. (Also, there seems to be a hint that the Spokescandies aren’t as gone as we thought.)
“I love M&Ms,” Maya says in one of the teasers for the M&M’s Super Bowl LVII commercial,” and you and I love me.” From there, Maya – the new “Chief of Fun Funk” – announced that the candy would “have a picture of yours truly painted right on them.” M&Ms will no longer have the trademark M on them…and they won’t be called M&M’s.
“Since we all love M&Ms and, let’s face it, me,” said the “Lady Awesome” Maya in a second teaser, “it only makes sense that I’m renaming America’s favorite chocolate candies ‘Ma&Ya’s.” For those who didn’t get it, Maya spells it out. “It’s a play on my name.” In the third teaser, she decides to replace the filling with clam. Yes, clam.
The teasers also pointed fans to go to ma-and-yas.com for more information.
The news of this shift away from the animated candies – or the set-up for this new Super Bowl campaign, as it seems – arrived on Monday (Jan. 23) when the candy stated on its social media. “America, let’s talk. In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies. We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet. But now we get it – even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing. Which was the last thing M&M’s wanted since we’re all about bringing people together. Therefore, we have decided to take an indefinite pause from the spokescandies.”
“In their place,” continued the statement, “we are proud to introduce a spokesperson America can agree on: the beloved Maya Rudolph. We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong.”
A message from M&M'S. pic.twitter.com/EMucEBTd9o
— Ma&Ya’s (@mmschocolate) January 23, 2023
This might not just be a way for M&Ms to make their presence felt at the Super Bowl and get Maya Rudolph on viewers’ screens during the big day. It may also be a way for them to mock Tucker Carlson. In January 2022, the right-wing FOX News host went off on a rant after M&Ms unveiled a character redesign that saw the female-presenting Green M&M “embrace confidence and a new pair of kicks” instead of the knee-high go-go boots she used to wear.
Tucker railed against the move to make the character “less sexy,” which was widely mocked online. “M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous,” said Tucker, per Forbes. “Until the moment you wouldn’t want to have a drink with any one of them. That’s the goal.”
At the start of 2023, Mars Wrigley – the company behind M&Ms – unveiled a new Purple M&M and a wrapper featuring the three feminine characters, Green, Brown, and Purple. The company also announced that it would be donating some of the profits from these M&M sales to organizations that support a variety of professional pursuits by women. Tucker went off on “woke M&Ms have returned,” per Forbes, and Daily Kos also noted that Fox News’s Harris Faulkner also spent time on the air lambasting this move.
Likely, M&Ms saw a chance to capitalize on the free publicity Fox News was providing their candy by “giving in” to the right-wing outrage and hiring Maya Rudolph. Fans will have to tune into Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12 to see the entire “Ma&Ya’s” ad.