Is Even Tucker Carlson Bored with Latest 'Woke M&Ms' Scaremongering?
Is the flavor fading for Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson when it comes to serving up rage over supposedly "woke" snack foods? As conservatives flip out over M&M's "flipping the script" on women's issues with a new package motif featuring a supposedly lesbian couple and a purportedly transgender purple candy, Carlson seemed to be getting bored, Know Your Meme noted.
Recalling that only a year ago Carlson was hot and bothered over the Green M&M — stylized as a sexy woman — getting a makeover he deemed made her less of a dish, Know Your Meme noted that the fresh attempt from the nothing-better-to-do hard right to make a meal out of the brand's inclusive marketing left the usually vitriolic anchor looking like he was in the midst of a sugar crash.
Alerting viewers to the imminent threat that "Woke M&M's have returned," Carlson seemed more weary than worked up, Know Your Meme related. "'So we're gonna cover that, of course,' he sighed, adding in a sing-song voice, 'Because that's what we dooo.'"
Carlson also wondered whether the Green M&M he had slammed last year as being "unappealing" and "androgynous" might in fact be a lesbian. That breaking news was seemingly prompted by an image on social media that shows Green holding hands with the Brown M&M, also styled as a female character. Problem is, it's old news: The image dates from 2015.
What is new, though, is a marketing push for the popular candy that celebrates "Women flipping the status quo," a concept that's made visual by a wrapper design for "all-female" packages containing only the three "female" colors of M&Ms — green, brown, and purple. The cartoon characters representing the three "female" colors appear upside-down on the packages to underscore the point, and it's got conservatives flipping, too — flipping their collective wigs, that is.
"M&M's is launching woke 'all-female' packs to celebrate female empowerment and attempt to shake things up in a continued shift toward progressive branding," raged UK newspaper the Daily Mail.
In a further nod to diversity, the Mail noted, "There will be milk chocolate, peanut and peanut butter versions of the upside down packages".
Perhaps the only real news here, slightly stale as it is, would be the introduction of the purple M&M, which represents a major new addition to the rainbow treat's palette. Depicted as a "peanut" M&M — hence the claims that she is intended to round out the brand's embrace of "body positivity" — the new purple M&M is also available in the lozenge-shaped classic version of the candy.
"More than 10 million fans voted to add the color to the confectionary's current rainbow in May, beating aqua and pink," the Mail recalled.
Purple debuted in October with a decidedly rock-star introduction in which she let the world know "I'm just gonna be me." The moment is decidedly more energetic than tuckered-out Tucker. Watch it below.
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