Hershey put a trans woman on a candy bar, and some customers are calling for a boycott
Hershey #Hershey
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Another chocolate company’s attempt to challenge gender stereotypes has drawn an online boycott.
In this case, it’s the Hershey Company which launched a campaign in Canada to promote International Women’s Day (March 8) by releasing five limited-edition “HER for SHE” chocolate bars. One of the bars features Fae Johnstone, a trans woman who is co-owner and executive director of the Canadian consulting firm Wisdom2Action, and who describes themself as a queer, trans and feminist activist.
The bar prompted some immediate backlash, especially from the political right, to Johnstone’s participation in the campaign as a trans woman. The campaign has renewed heated discussion over gender identity and trans rights online, and led the hashtag #BoycottHersheys to jump to the top of Twitter trends on Thursday.
The social-media boycott comes as transgender people in the U.S. have faced ‘‘horrifying” rhetoric at statehouses, with at least 150 bills targeting transgender people being introduced so far this year, the highest in a single year, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBTQ advocacy group and political lobbying organization.
South Dakota and Utah have enacted bans on gender-affirming care for minors this year, and Republican governors in Tennessee and Mississippi are expected to sign similar bans into law. Arkansas and Alabama have similar bans that were temporarily blocked by federal judges.
In response to the boycott, plenty of people on social media have also voiced their support for Hershey and Johnstone, and say the campaign sends a positive, inclusive message. As one declared on Twitter, “Let’s buy a lot of chocolate bars.”
The Hershey controversy follows the one that recently involved the M&M’s “spokescandies.” M&M’s announced in 2022 that it was changing the look of the female green and brown candies in an effort to make the mascots “more inclusive, welcoming, and unifying” (in other words, to not play into gender stereotypes).
This led to an online meltdown, as critics complained the brand was being too politically correct, or not being true to the mascots’ fun identity. Later, M&M’s announced that veteran actress and comic Maya Rudolph was replacing the “spokescandies,” though the mascots have since returned.
Officials with Hershey didn’t have an immediate comment for MarketWatch about the #BoycottHersheys situation. A representative for Fae Johnstone directed any queries to Hershey.
Hershey did issue a press release about the Canadian “HER for SHE” initiative, which features four other women, including Indigenous-rights activist Autumn Peltier and climate-tech researcher Naila Moloo. In the release, Hershey said the campaign spotlights “Canadian women working to build a better future through their passion, activism, and work in their communities.”
The Associated Press reporting contributed to this article.