Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
Culture > News

How The “Slutty” M&M Casted a Spotlight on Slavery

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Virginia Tech chapter.

Recently, M&M’s have changed their iconic characters. However, this new look isn’t because they have genuine intentions. No, they’re trying to distract you from their owning company, Mars, which has been involved with child slavery. And it all started because the company de-whored the iconic Ms. Green.

Many Twitter users erupted in anarchy when they removed her heels. One user asked why M&M’s decided to “reverse yassify the green M&M.” Others referred to Euphoria memes and the voting rights bill for the news of the changed chocolate characters. Shortly after, however, other users pointed out that this was simply a ploy for the slavery scandal, which I can’t believe I have to say in 2022.

While the company was hoping to remove the spotlight off of a lawsuit, this change has only brought the fire back and brighter as people uncover that Mars isn’t the only company who has used child slaves — Nestle and Hershey are also involved. 

Each plaintiff, all under the age of 16 at the time of recruitment, were kidnapped and forced to work on the cocoa fields. These plantations were linked to major chocolate companies, yet the companies denied any involvement or knowledge with how the workers came about. In fact, Mars even stated that they had no involvement and that slavery has no right within their supply chain. 

As this lawsuit goes on, people are focusing on each company, including the biggest terror: The Nestle Company. This force has a long history of destroying lives. Aside from slavery, Nestle has recently been challenged by California in the last year for unsustainable water practices. Most recently, popular YouTuber Bailey Sarian has made a video highlighting Nestle’s many, many crimes.

We can’t keep letting these companies get away with atrocious crimes. They are ruining the lives of people in every place, from your own backyard to countries you might never see. Major corporations need to be held accountable for their actions — it’s about time they are.

And this all started because M&M’s decided to remove go-go boots from their green M&M.

Madi Armstrong

Virginia Tech '23

Madi Armstrong is a senior studying multimedia journalism with minors in Spanish and creative writing. Through writing, she hopes to empower those around her to advocate for what they believe in and to use their experiences in ways to help others. Proud to be part of Her Campus, she hopes to leave a lasting impact and create an environment where everyone feels welcome.