Maya Rudolph Named M&M’s New Spokesperson After Backlash to ‘Polarizing’ Mascot Changes

Yes, you read that right. The actress will make her first appearance in the candy’s Super Bowl ad

Maya Rudolph attends the Los Angeles premiere for the Peacock original series "Poker Face"
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

Maya Rudolph is about to be everyone’s favorite M&M’s mascot.

M&M’s is retiring its candy mascots—or as the company puts it, its “spokescandies”—and replacing them with the “Saturday Night Live” and “Bridesmaids” actress. Rudolph will make her first appearance with the brand in the candy’s Super Bowl ad, airing during the game on Sunday, Feb. 12.

“I’m thrilled to be working with M&M’s,” Rudolph told TODAY.com. “I am a lifelong lover of the candy and I feel like it’s such an honor to be asked to be part of such a legendary brand’s campaign.”

Though she couldn’t share many details about this new parternship, she said that there would be “lots of fun” moments in the ad.

“It’s a very fun pairing, if I do say so myself,” she continued. “I think little Maya would be thrilled to get to work with M&M’s.”

Going as far back as the mid-1950s, the M&M’s spokescandies are icons in marketing history, particularly the Red and Yellow characters, who were voiced by “Saturday Night Live” alum Jon Lovitz and first John Goodman and later by Oscar winner J.K. Simmons, respectively.

A press release posted on M&M’s Twitter—yup, that’s a thing—revealed the reason behind the decision.

Last year, the candy brand unveiled new looks for the red, green, brown, orange, blue and yellow M&Ms in and effort to give them each a “fresh, modern take.” But when the green M&M’s iconic go-go boots were swapped out with sneakers, people thought the brand had taken things too far, sparking memes and even a bit of controversy.

The press release acknowledged: “In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies. We weren’t sure if anyone would notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet. But now we get it — even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing. Which was the last thing M&M’S wanted since we’re all about bringing people together.”

In response, the candy brand has “decided to take an indefinite pause from the spokescandies,” replacing them with a “spokesperson America can agree on,” “the beloved Maya Rudolph.”

“We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong,” the statement concluded.

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