M&M's announcement to sideline its iconic spokescandies has all the earmarks of a Super Bowl ad stunt. The move—which was portrayed as a response to last year's polarizing makeover of the characters—is generating the kind of attention craved by brands as they seek to break through the Big Game ad clutter.

But the apparent stunt, as silly as it might be, also carries risks, namely that the candy is bound to upset one side of the political aisle no matter how it finishes this off.

“It’s pretty clear [M&M's] are leaning into the controversy of the characters, and the goal is to create hype for their Super Bowl ad,” Jason Harris, co-founder and CEO of the creative agency Mekanism, said in an interview. “That’s the whole goal of Super Bowl advertising—to get as much hype as you can before you run the ad.” (Mekanism is not involved in the effort.)

For its part, Mars-owned M&M's in a statement today acted to tamp down any notion that the mascots are gone for good, saying, “Rest assured, the characters are still our official spokescandies. There’s much more to come, and we’re confident that fans who have embraced the M&M’s brand purpose (and the refreshed characters launched in the past year) won’t be disappointed with how this story ends.”

BBDO New York is handling M&M's Super Bowl campaign.

The announcement that M&M's would sideline its candy characters came after months of indignation from conservative media figures such as Tucker Carlson, who renounced the “wokeness” of the candies. The Fox News host returned serve on the Super Bowl announcement this week, complaining the brand’s move to de-sexualize the Green character and give Brown more conservative footwear amounted to the brand becoming “intentionally repulsive.” He also knocked the Orange candy's neurosis and railed against the recent addition of a Purple M&M and on coverage of the story by his competitors at CNN.

M&M's executives, while announcing the change last year, said the mascot makeover better reflected its fans, and supported a brand purpose of “creating a world where everyone belongs.”

This week's events captured the attention of news outlets ranging from the Hollywood Reporter to Lifehacker to Time. Many used “backlash” or “uproar” in their headlines. The Washington Post recounted “The final hours of the M&M’s spokescandies,” in satire.

Despite their current hiatus, Harris said he believes the candies will live to offend Carlson again. A 2020 Kantar study showed that 68% of U.S. consumers believe it’s important that the companies they do business with make it clear what values they stand for. Whether that can be done with candy mascots remains up for debate.

“Consumers expect brands to have values, and live their values,” Harris said. “[M&M's] are saying ‘We’d rather sell more to our core and alienate some other folks than not stand for anything.’”

Charles Taylor, a professor of marketing at Villanova University was more circumspect, saying he tends to advise brands to steer away from political controversy. “It’s a tricky position to be in from my standpoint,” Taylor said.

Kimberly Whitler, associate professor of business administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, said she feels M&M's aren’t courting “controversy” as much as “conversation and engagement,” noting that if Carlson’s remarks were actually harming the brand, it would be more likely move on without announcing a pause.

“We tend to like to think in binary terms—good or bad,” Whitler said. “In reality, there is a spectrum.”

While the M&M's move may remind some of Planters' move to kill off its “Mr. Peanut” character in the runup to the 2020 Super Bowl, Harris said a better comparison would be Nike’s 2018 Colin Kaepernick ad, a controversial spot that wound up leading to sales and stock gains for Nike, in spite of boycott threats.

M&M's said Maya Rudolph would stand in for the candies in the forthcoming Super Bowl ad. In a teaser spot that has been running on TV this week, Rudolph herself played to the controversy, saying “I love M&M's, and you and I love me,” while pointing to a pie chart showing “People Who Love Maya” dominating a tiny sliver representing “Other.” Rudolph's face has been printed on M&M's.

The spokescandies in the meantime are following new pursuits. The Yellow M&M showed up in a Tweet from Mars’ sibling brand Snickers, while Orange is hosting a Spotify playlist “curated to help you find inner peace.”

“Despite the reactions to our character news, one thing has always remained true: the brand represents our global purpose of creating a world where everyone feels they belong,” a spokeswoman said.