Why is Maya Rudolph replacing M&M's ‘woke’ spokescandies on the eve of the Super Bowl advert?

Make way for M&M’s new mascot Saturday Night Live comedian Maya Rudolph, who is replacing the candy company’s anthropomorphic sugar ‘spokescandies’.

The Mars company announced the M&M candies that have been the face of the brand since the 1960s, would be paused indefinitely after their rebranding in advertisements caused right-wing criticism from the likes of Tucker Carlson and Nick Adams.

The cartoon characters were initially updated in January 2022 with the two female candies donning less stereotypically feminine attire and a character being given an anxiety order, to ‘create a world where everyone feels they belong and society is inclusive.’

Elements removed include the green M&M swapping to sneakers from go-go boots and the brown M&M being drawn with shorter heels.

While the move was meant to be inclusive and progressive, the rebrand was met with backlash as Fox News’ Tucker Carlson claimed they were being ‘woke’ resulting in a lack of ‘eye-candy’ in the adverts.

A year after the initial ‘polarising’ rebrand, M&M have decided to bring Bridesmaid’s Maya Rudolph in as their official spokesperson and ‘chief of fun’, just in time to be a part of their Super Bowl commercial.

Despite Maya having a ‘sweet’ deal, there has been some confusion as to why the actress and comedian has been brought into the candy company, mostly surrounding whether the motive was purely for media coverage ahead of the Super Bowl.

Rudolph said: “I am a lifelong lover of the candy, and I feel like it’s such an honour to be asked to be part of such a legendary brand’s campaign,” as the candy company shared: “we are proud to introduce a new 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.”

Moving away from right-wing critics, fans are blasting M&M for not supporting their early decision to become more inclusive with their characters and caving into the likes of Tucker Carlson; one commented: "Why allow yourself to be bullied , changing the candies to a maya randolph...stay with the candies & stop allowing yourself to be bullied ! Stop the bullying!" while others concurred exemplified by "You caved to Tucker Carlson, shameful" and "This is set up for a superbowl commercial, isn’t it? Maya Rudolph is going to make an anti -bullying speech about inclusion & representation surrounded by a diverse cast of … candies?"

Crucially, M&M's have not specified how long the 'pause' would be for the candies to take time away from the advertisements, or what Maya's involvement with the commercial will be as of yet, but hopefully Rudolph will guide the way to a sweeter future for the company when her first ad as 'champion of fun' is released on 12 February.