Candy giant M&M's is retiring its iconic spokescandies following changes to the cartoon characters that sparked controversy in 2022.

When the company was founded it was M&M Limited. The two 'M's represent the names of Forrest E. Mars Sr., the founder of Newark Company, and Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey Chocolate's president William F. R.

M&M's became the focus of a partisan backlash after the brand made a number of stylistic tweaks to its cast of “spokescandies” last year. In January 2022, the brand replaced the green M&M's knee-high boots with flats and swapped the brown M&M's stilettos for lower heels.

M&M's characters

Mars is expanding its motley crew of M&M'S brand ambassadors with the addition of a new color of spokescandy. Named Purple, because surprise, she's purple, this new character is "designed to represent acceptance and inclusivity," and "is known for her earnest self-expression," according to M&M'S.

M&M's, the ubiquitous candy brand owned by Mars Wrigley, announced on Monday that it would take “an indefinite pause” from its “spokescandies,” deciding that the cartoon characters with arms, legs and minimal facial features were simply too divisive for a polarized America to take.

Fox News derisively deemed the brand “woke” after the brand altered the characters' shoes. Tucker Carlson complained about the candy characters' new and, from his perspective, less “sexy” look. “M&M's will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing,” Carlson said.

Mars and Murrie The M&M name actually represents the two people who came up with the idea. M&M stands for Mars and Murrie - named after Forrest E. Mars Sr. – the founder of Mars – and Bruce Murrie, the son of Hershey Chocolate's president William F. R.

Each M&M is named after their color, and their personalities are as follows: Red is a self-confident leader, Yellow is an oblivious goofball, Orange is neurotic, Blue is cool and smooth, and Green (the female M&M) is a purring seductress (“Characters”).

Purple, which joins Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Brown, is "designed to represent acceptance and inclusivity." She has a "charm and quirky" nature driven by "self-awareness, authenticity and confidence."

Her debut included a song entitled “I'm Just Gonna Be Me.” (Although the purple confection was added to the spokescandy lineup, no purple candies were added inside M&M packages.) Conservatives immediately suggested that the new purple candy must be transgender, and the candies were labeled “woke.”

The candy-colored controversy started last year when M&M's listened to long-standing criticism about how the two female characters were obviously sexualized -- in older advertisements, Green and Brown were sometimes presented as "competing" for the male M&M's while Green would strike "sexy" poses.