Hershey Chocolate is suffering a boycott effort after pushing a man pretending to be a woman as the face of its International Women’s Day campaign.
The Twitter hashtag #BoycottHersheys began trending Thursday after the nearly 130-year-old American chocolate maker posted its Twitter campaign to celebrate International Women’s Day by including a transgender woman named Fae Johnstone as one of its “Her for She” honorees.
In the video, Johnstone, a biological man, said, “We can create a world where everyone is able to live in public spaces as their honest and authentic selves. Be the woman changing how we see the future.”
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
It is a strange concept to understand that living life as an “honest and authentic self” means hiding one’s actual gender by dressing up as some fantasy version of themselves in public.
Regardless, in his tweets announcing his part in the woke candy company’s campaign, Johnstone spoke of how “honored” he is to be included “alongside 4 brilliant sisters and change-makers.”
In follow-up tweets, Johnstone added, “We still have a long way to go in the fight to end misogyny, patriarchy and gender-based violence,” the LGBTQ activist shared in a follow-up. “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.”
But not everyone felt featuring a man as the face of “International Women’s Day” was the best policy.
Oli London noted, “Hersheys chocolate has just disrespected women all over the world by having a MAN who regularly tweets his hatred towards WOMEN become the face of the brands ‘International Women’s Day’ campaign!”
Go Woke, Go Broke @Hersheys ❌🍫
Hersheys chocolate has just disrespected women all over the world by having a MAN who regularly tweets his hatred towards WOMEN become the face of the brands “International Women’s Day” campaign! #Hersheys #HerShe #GoWokeGoBroke pic.twitter.com/Y4rZXIlpDf
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) March 2, 2023
Others were just as perplexed:
You get the feeling that these companies *always* despised women — they were just waiting for the right moment to stick it to us.
Here’s the thing about real women, @Hersheys:
We have long memories. https://t.co/rfgTlRH4ar
— Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) March 2, 2023
There are 3.9 billion females out there and Hersheys decided to pick a misogynist dude for International Women’s Day.#BoycottHersheys pic.twitter.com/tloUGhBsYx
— Li Ern (@RealLiErn) March 2, 2023
So @Hersheys is featuring a male in costume as a woman for its international women’s day ad campaign. https://t.co/PbxV8ZJD1Q
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) March 2, 2023
.@Hersheys is putting the face of a trans-“woman” on chocolate bar wrappers with “HerShe” highlighted in honor of international women’s day.
Hershey’s is erasing women. pic.twitter.com/JzRkAtwTdO— Leftism (@LeftismForU) March 1, 2023
#BoycottHersheys is trending at number 6.
Hershey’s is erasing women by putting biological men in their place for international women’s day.
Let’s get #BoycottHersheys to # 1. pic.twitter.com/hIKrXqxyRr— Leftism (@LeftismForU) March 2, 2023
This is the third year for Hershey’s celebration of International Women’s Day and in a press release, the company claimed its 2023 campaign celebrates women in “new, meaningful ways.”
“We are excited to reintroduce the Hershey’s SHE bars in new, meaningful ways as part of Hershey’s larger commitment to supporting women and girls this Women’s History Month and every month,” brand manager Katie DeCapria said in the statement.
“This bar, with 200+ thoughtful adjectives created with our partners Girls on the Run, reminds us to take a moment to honor the women and girls who inspire us every day. We hope to spark meaningful, heartwarming connections through the simple gesture of giving a SHE bar to someone who has played an important role in your life,” the company exclaimed.
This is far from the only woke campaign the candy maker has indulged. It has pushed the gay pride movement for years, and has also been recognized by the left-wing activist group DiversityInc as among the top 50 most woke corporations, ranking as the number 6 most “diverse” U.S. corporation.
There have been other nods to its wokeness, too. One Twitter user also reminded America that Hershey Food Corporation fired all its employees who refused to take any of the coronavirus vaccines and for violating its vaccine mandate back in 2021, as Western Journal reported at the time.
So, this backlash to the ultra-woke company is long overdue.
