Written Analysis 2

M&M’s are a very popular candy among children and adults everywhere around the world. Through the years, a series of rituals and stereotypes developed regarding the way we should eat the M&M's and about the way gender representation is done in commercials that are stereotypical.

The question is “What is the best way to eat M&M’s?” There is not a wrong or a right answer, but over the years people developed a series of rituals when it comes how to consume those delicious candies. Some people prefer to eat one or two M&M’s at a time while others open the bag and eat all of them at the same time. Some of us have an organized way to eat those M&M's, and we follow the same rituals all the time. Sorting the M&M's by color and number has become a very popular way to do it. A good example of how eating M&M has become a ritual given by La Guera. “I eat all the brown M&Ms first and then proceed to eat whichever color there are the most of until all colors have an equal amount” (La Guera, 2010). Then I will eat them in groups, well, I eat certain colors within the groups first – red, then orange, and then blue, yellow and green however I grab them first” (La Guera, 2010). Another interesting ritual is to freeze the M&M’s and eat a handful of them.

There are a lot of commercials out there advertising M&M’s in which we get to meet the different M&M characters introduced by Mars over the years. According to Mitha (2012) the M&M’s commercials “are perpetuating the subordination of women through stereotypes about both genders”. The Green M&M is depicted as a sexual object while the male M&M's which are trying to get her attention are depicted as thinking only about women and sex that is a stereotype about men, in general. The Brown M&M, who wears glasses, is portrayed as a successful women who doesn't want to get involved with men thus "keeping with the stereotypes created in the media about smart women” (Mitha, 2012).

I didn’t even realized that it has become a ritual for me to sort my M&M’s when I eat them, for me it is just something normal. I usually divide the M&M’s by colors and only after I finish one color I start to eat M&M's of another color. Some of the M&M commercials are controversial and sexist, and we need to be careful with this because our kids are watching this too so they might get the wrong idea. All people are equal no matter of the gender.

References

La Guera. (2010). How do YOU eat M&Ms? Retrieved from http://www.payazaro.com/general/how-do-you-eat-mms/

Mitha, T. (2012, November 15). Gender stereotypes in Candy? Retrieved from http://www.bwss.org/gender-stereotypes-in-candy/