'#BoycottHersheys' Trends After Candy Bar Features Trans Woman For Women's History Month

Somehow, Palpatine raging culture wars over who gets put on a candy bar wrapper have returned.

Less than a month after the seemingly endless M&Ms Spokescandies "scandal" wrapped up unceremoniously with a confusing Super Bowl ad, moral outrage has redirected from Mars to Hershey's after the Canadian division of the chocolate company featured trans, 2SLGBTQIA+ activist Fae Johnstone on the wrappers of a limited run of chocolate bars in celebration of Women's History Month.

For those unaware, "2S" stands for "Two Spirit," which is how indigenous gay, queer and transgender people identify.

The chocolate's out of the wrapper!

Honoured to be featured in this campaign by @Hersheys Canada for #InternationalWomensDay alongside 4 brilliant sisters and change-makers. https://t.co/0s9uh8MvHv pic.twitter.com/jdXNJfcZmo

— Fae Johnstone, MSW (@FaeJohnstone) March 1, 2023

Johnstone joins four other women as the subjects of Hershey's Women's History Month campaign: "Rita Audi, gender equality and education activist; Naila Moloo, climate technology researcher; Autumn Peltier, Indigenous Rights & Water Activist; and Kélicia Massala, founder of Girl Up Québec."

Johnstone's inclusion in the campaign riled up some conservatives and TERFs, many of whom misgendered Johnstone while criticizing the company for featuring a transgender woman in their campaign. The hashtags #BoycottHersheys and #GoWokeGoBroke trended as people began voicing extreme opinions on the candy and its decision making.

One criticism of Johnstone that went beyond transphobic language saw people dig through her previous tweets and discover a post in which she said she hoped for a day when TERFs were "so vilified they don't dare speak their views publicly, let alone act on them."

Others who were less ideologically riled up one way or the other by Johnstone's spokeswoman run expressed that Hershey's has committed far greater "sins" than highlighting a trans woman during Women's History Month.

In 2021, Mars, Nestlé and Hershey were hit with a lawsuit accusing the companies of using child slavery on cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast. Those aware of that controversy felt that people getting mad ad Hershey's for putting a trans woman on their candy wrappers did not have their priorities in order.

For Johnstone's part, she has yet to engage with the controversy, instead retweeting messages of support and expressing that she hopes she can be a role model to transgender youth.