• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, July 11, 2023

Mars, which has been on a five-year quest to achieve gender parity in its ad, says it’s hit the equality zone, with females making up 49.9% of its on-screen ad imagery.

That’s a 51% increase since it first commissioned the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to study its ads in 2018.

People of color now make up 63% of ads, a 117% increase. But the candy maker isn’t taking any victory laps yet, with the report noting it could do better in terms of identity, disability and age.

“Being more intentional about elevating diversity and representation in our ads is one way we’re harnessing the power of our brands to work toward a more inclusive world,” says Dale Green, Mars’ global director of purpose marketing, via email.

“Our marketing content can help people feel seen, confident and connected. A prime example of this would be M&M’S goal to increase the sense of belonging for 10 million people around the world by 2025 by focusing on inclusion.”

He tells Marketing Daily the company first commissioned the research to help it become a leader in reflecting social diversity in all its marketing. This year, it decided to make its scores public.

 “We’re far from done,” he says, adding that its representation of identity accounted for 1.6% of on-screen images, disability (0.6%) and age (2%). “We made these findings public not only to showcase the progress we’ve made over the past five years as an industry leader but to also hold ourselves accountable to keep taking strides forward.”

The company has won some battle scars in its inclusion efforts following last year’s introduction of Purple, its first new spokescandy in 10 years.

In January, Tucker Carlson, the since-fired Fox News personality, took issue with the brand’s “woke” marketing and Purple’s “obese” shape. (He seemed to miss that she was a peanut M&M.)

The ensuing war on social led to a new marketing campaign, starring Maya Rudolph and epic buzz for the brand as it headed into the Super Bowl.

Green says the whole point of Purple was to represent acceptance and inclusivity. “M&M’s experienced double-digit growth last year and was voted a top 5 Gen Z brand by Morning Consult, with much of the growth being driven by our new purpose focused on inclusivity.”

He acknowledges there’s a risk. “Activating purpose programs at a global scale in an incredibly complex and polarized environment requires bravery and fortitude.” But there’s also a risk of not doing so, which include “missing out on an opportunity to make meaningful connections with consumers around societal and cultural topics.”