MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS QUESTION (10 MARKS), 300-500 WORDS

In January 2023, the candy/lollies company M&Ms announced it would be changing its approach to its brand mascots:

This was after changes to the mascots (spokescandies) to make them more inclusive in 2021-2022. These changes were politically polarizing in some cases. Many of those changes were focused on their female-personified spokescandies.

Less than a month later, M&Ms launched a series of ads making it clear that was a hoax, and maintaining its spokescandies after all.

Analyze and discuss these decisions from the M&Ms company with a marketing public relations perspective.

Do you believe this was an effective strategy from the brand in response to controversy? Why or why not? What else would you recommend the brand do and/or what tools should they use to respond to the controversy and to increase the effectiveness of this most recent campaign?