The new green M&M design is the worst thing that's ever happened, apparently

We never quite know what we're going to end up writing about on any given day here at Creative Bloq. Every morning we pour a coffee, log on and take a look at what in the world of art and design has got the internet talking. Could we have guessed that today's fierce discourse would concern the reverse-sexualisation of the shoes worn by an anthropomorphized green candy-coated chocolate? We could not.

Anyway, Mars Wrigley has revealed that its M&M characters have been redesigned to be "more inclusive", with all six receiving tweaks to their appearance and personality. But there's one particular aspect of the character design update that's caused the internet to collectively kick off. The Green M&M's shoes.

Gone are the green M&M's signature high-heeled boots, along with her lip gloss and long lashes. The shoes have been replaced with what one Twitter user calls "old maiden, 40-50-year-old auntie sneakers" in a process that many are calling "reverse-yassification" (no idea what we're talking about? Read about yassification at your peril). In short, the green M&M has been de-sexualised, and people are having none of it.

In a press release, Mars Wrigley claims that the update (which also includes the orange M&M being open about his anxiety) is designed to be "more inclusive, welcoming, and unifying" within a "more dynamic, progressive world." But as was the case with Space Jam's new Lola Bunny design, many feel that the "erasure" of a sex-positive icon is anything but progressive.

Indeed, Friday 21 January 2022 will forever be remembered as the day that all the internet could talk about was the green M&M's boots. When words like "despicable," "woke," and "yass-denied" were thrown around, and headlines like Let the Green M&M Be a Nasty Little Slut were published. 

Still, only a few weeks into 2022, this is by no means the first rebrand to upset the internet – just yesterday, Coca-Cola revealed its disastrous new packaging design. But we have a feeling that come December, Green M&M-gate will be remembered as one of the most furious debates of the year. 

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