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M&M's Get a Revamp But a Gender Imbalance Persists

M&M's Get a Revamp But a Gender Imbalance Persists

The M&M’s characters have gotten a modern update from Mars Inc.

The closely held candy maker has redesigned its colorful mascots to make them more diverse, focusing on a range of personalities. Gone is the sexy trope of the green M&M; she is now empowered, advocating for “more women in leading roles.” Brown, the other female in the group, is a self-proclaimed boss. Blue is goofy. Yellow is friendly. Red is a narcissist. And Orange is anxious, according to back stories for the colors posted on the company website.

A spokesperson for Mars said the company is “looking into ways to better gender balance the crew and while we can’t share specifics just yet, there is a lot of work being done.”

Mars said it has removed prefixes from names, like “Ms.” in “Ms. Brown,” and is featuring the full cast more often across all of its content. The company’s ads historically relied heavily on two male characters, Red and Yellow.

While they’ve been a mainstay of the Super Bowl for years -- including an ad starring Dan Levy last year and one with Betty White in 2010 -- viewers shouldn’t expect expect to see the M&M’s characters during this year’s game. According to Ad Age, they’re going to sit this one out.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.