Anti-transgender muppets had a meltdown on social media Thursday after The Hershey Company released a new ad featuring a transgender woman for Women’s History Month.
On Wednesday, Fae Johnstone, the executive director of the Canadian social justice organization Wisdom2Action, announced that she was in a new campaign for Hershey’s Canada and featured on some of the chocolate bar’s wrappers. (Wrappers vary between her and other women involved in the campaign.)
“The chocolate's out of the wrapper!” Johnstone tweeted. “Honoured to be featured in this campaign by @Hersheys Canada for #InternationalWomensDay alongside 4 brilliant sisters and change-makers.”
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According to Wisdom2Action’s website, Johnstone has an extensive background in community engagement, particularly working with trans support groups and mental health services for LGBTQ+ youth. On her Twitter profile, Johnstone proudly states she is a “queer, trans and feminist activist.”
But the so-called chocolate gatekeepers apparently didn’t like that extra detail and, despite often railing against “cancel culture,” called on chocolate fans to boycott Hershey’s.
“So @Hersheys is featuring a male in costume as a woman for its international women’s day ad campaign,” tweeted The Federalist’s editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway.
“Now @hersheys is the latest corporation to replace women with men dressed up as women,” former Tennessee Republican congressional candidate Robbie Starbuck tweeted. “This time to honor international women’s day. You can’t make this stuff up. If you’re sick of this too then refuse to give Hershey’s any of your money.”
“To celebrate International Women’s Day- Hersheys uses a MAN in their advert to advertise their new women’s chocolate range ‘Her For She’,” wrote social media personality Oli London.
The plastic-surgery enthusiast is a known former race-faker who attempted to become Korean and de-transitioned from being a transgender woman.
“This is a true insult to women! International Women’s Day is about celebrating the achievements of women not MEN!” London tweeted Wednesday.
Others claimed the Johnstone ad was “misogyny” and a “war on women.”
This is not the first time minor changes in the world of chocolate have thrown conservatives into a tizzy.
In January 2022, M&M’s slightly changed the attire for one of the brand’s female characters. Rather than wearing white high heels as she used to, the Green M&M switched to a pair of white sneakers. The Purple M&M, a woman, was introduced in September—the first new M&M in over 10 years. She wore sneakers, and Twitter was on fire.
The company also introduced a bag of all-female M&M’s at the beginning of this year “spotlighting our female spokescandies…to celebrate and support the next generation of women flipping the status quo,” according to the company’s website.
Apparently, ultra-conservatives weren’t having that either. The backlash, which garnered an embarrassing amount of time on Fox News’ airwaves, was so severe that the brand backtracked on the changes and instead welcomed comedian Maya Rudolph as a temporary spokesperson.
Despite the chocolate outrage, many social media users leaped to Johnstone’s defense.
“We still have a long way to go in the fight to end misogyny, patriarchy and gender-based violence,” Johnstone tweeted following her Hershey’s campaign video. “I hope this campaign helps give more young women and girls role models and possibility models. And shows them how we can…change the world, together.”
“I grew up with few trans role models. Many young trans folks haven’t met a trans adult,” she added. “I hope this campaign shows trans girls they can dream big and change the world too.”
