Green M&M’s Fashion Makeover Is Covid Comfy but Not Everyone Is Happy

Ditching the heels gives Green a modern look, said Marissa Beck, senior director of brands and content at Mars. “We love this laid-back, post-Covid world that we live in,” she said. 

But others said the move was meant to water down Green’s sex appeal.

“She really looks like a different person,” said Robin Darrell of Cleveland, who doesn’t eat M&Ms, but was surprised by Green’s new appearance. “I was like, ‘This is so silly, put her back in her shoes.’ ”

The changes are part of an effort to make M&M characters more inclusive, Mars said Thursday. The company tweaked the looks of five cartoon candies and dropped the Mr. and Ms. prefixes for the cartoons to put the focus on their personalities, instead of their genders, it said. 

But it was the green one’s fashion makeover that sparked so much conversation online. “Green M&M” was trending on Twitter Thursday and Friday. 

“Did my shoes really break the internet?” Green said in a tweet Thursday from the official M&M account. 

Ms. Darrell said she didn’t even notice the tweaks to the other candy cartoons, most of which involved new footwear.  

“All the dude M&Ms have the same outfits on,” said Ms. Darrell, a 28-year-old tech adviser. “She’s the one that stood out the most.”

Blake Hammond isn’t a fan of Green’s new toned-down look. 

“I know this is weird to say about an M&M, but she was the sexy, hot candy,” said Mr. Hammond, a 32-year-old stand-up comic from Cincinnati who eats peanut butter M&Ms. “She was the strongest character. She would put the red one in its place.”

The green M&M made her debut in a 1997 Super Bowl commercial. Her long lashes and pouty lips were a departure for the candy company at the time, which didn’t assign genders to its cartoon candies before that, even though they walked, talked and had other humanlike characteristics.

Green appeared in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition several times as part of an ad campaign, crawling on the sand or peeling off her hard candy shell to reveal a milk chocolate layer. 

On TV commercials, she was given a sultry voice. One ad, where she ate M&M’s in bed, was so steamy that it caused the red, blue and yellow M&Ms on set to melt. “That’s not supposed to happen,” the green M&M quipped.

Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said the sexy commercials of the past don’t work today. The makeover helps put that in the past. 

“They’re pulling back,” said Mr. Calkins. “They’re clearly making her less vampy, changing her style.”

Mars’s Ms. Beck said the green M&M will still be self-assured and confident. She wouldn’t say whether Green’s sexy side would be gone for good. “She can be whatever she wants to be,” said Ms. Beck.

Beth Dincuff Charleston, a fashion historian and assistant professor at Parsons School of Design, said sneakers make sense for the candy’s customers. 

“Sneakers are easy. M&Ms are an easy snack,” she said. “You can just grab a handful, they are available at supermarkets, newsstands, etc. In contrast, heels require more effort to wear. Heels equal champagne chocolate truffles.”

Still, Eva Davey wants the sexy green M&M back. 

“She’s very flirty with the other ones, but also kind of a girl boss,” said Ms. Davey, a 22-year-old student in Vancouver, British Columbia. “I think if you’re going to make the mistake of sexualizing an object, stick by it.”

Write to Joseph Pisani at joseph.pisani@wsj.com