- Hershey says he is maintaining his International Women’s Day campaign featuring a trans woman.
- The campaign featured Fae Johnstone, a trans woman, on chocolate bar wrappers.
- The campaign has sparked conservatives on social media calling for a boycott of the company.
Chocolate company Hershey said it was standing by its International Women’s Day campaign featuring a trans woman following calls on social media to boycott the company over this decision.
“We value unity and recognize the strength created by diversity,” a Hershey spokesperson said. Bloomberg. “For the past three years, our Women’s History Month programming has been an inclusive celebration of women and their impact. We appreciate the countless people and meaningful partnerships behind these efforts.”
As part of its He for She campaign, Hershey features trans rights activist Fae Johnstone on limited-edition chocolate bar wrappers in Canada. Johnstone is featured alongside four other Canadian women who are activists in their respective fields.
On Wednesday, Johnstone tweeted about the partnership, in writing that she grew up with few trans role models and hopes the campaign will “show trans girls that they can dream big and change the world too”.
His tweets have received praise and support from some, but also criticism from conservatives and calls for a boycott of Hershey.
—Fae Johnstone, MSW (@FaeJohnstone) March 1, 2023
Johnstone responded to the backlash, saying the backlash “shows how far we still have to go in the fight for feminist liberation and trans rights.”
—Fae Johnstone, MSW (@FaeJohnstone) March 2, 2023
Hershey did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment sent outside of normal business hours. The company’s stock price closed 0.7% higher at $238.40 on Thursday.
The Hershey campaign controversy followed another fracas at M&Ms. In 2022, M&Ms rebranded the appearance of its mascots “spokescandies” in replacing the brown and green women’s M&M’s shoes. In particular, the high-heeled boots of the green M&M’s have been replaced by sneakers.
The changes angered conservatives like Fox News host Tucker Carlson. who said women’s M&Ms are now “less sexy” with their new shoes.
M&Ms says in January 2023 that the company was taking “an indefinite hiatus from spokespersons” because it didn’t want to polarize people.