Calls are rising on social media for a boycott of Hershey's products after the company included a transgender rights activist in its International Women's Day advertising campaign featuring the "She" bar.
Hershey this week brought back the "She" bar to "shine a light on the women and girls who inspire us every day." In Canada, where the candy bar is being branded as "Her," Hershey picked Fae Johnstone, a transgender woman, as one of the women whose faces are pictured on the candy's wrapper, reported Newsweek.
Abigail Shrier, author of "Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters," tweeted: "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, Hershey's. We have long memories."
Oli London, an internet personality who in 2022 announced plans to detransition, wrote in response that "a biological MAN fronts the new Hersheys campaign celebrating women for International Women's Day. This is misogyny at its finest! A real slap in the face to actual women!"
Johnstone wrote on Twitter that it's an honor to be featured "alongside 4 brilliant sisters and change-makers. ... I grew up with few trans role models. Many young trans folks haven't met a trans adult. I hope this campaign shows trans girls they can dream big and change the world too."
Some women are supporting Johnstone, including actor Sarah Daniels, who thanked Johnstone "for representing us so beautifully," and actor Erin Marie Hogan, who wrote that "if TERFS [trans-exclusionary radical feminists] don't like it they're free to f*** off."
Last year, a Pew Research Center Poll showed that 38% of Americans said society has gone too far in accepting transgender people, while 36% said society hasn't gone far enough, Newsweek noted.