On July 22, 2025, a three-judge U.S. appeals court rejected eight Malian citizens’ proposed class action against Mars and other chocolate companies over alleged forced labor on Ivory Coast cocoa farms. The court found no plausible link between the plaintiffs’ labor and specific farms supplying the defendants; their lawyer said they were disappointed and considering options.
"The court rewarded the chocolate multinational defendants ... for concealing their cocoa supply chains, such that former child slaves are unable to link a specific company to the Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) farms where they were enslaved," he said.
While hordes of people readily engaged in the culture war surrounding the green M&M, far less were aware that Mars Inc., just months before in 2021, had been sued over allegations of forced child labor. Eight Malian adults claimed that they were trafficked as children and used as slave labor on cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire, a country on the southern coast of West Africa. The lawsuit, filed by human rights organization International Rights Advocates, alleges that the defendants — Mars Inc. and several other of the world’s largest chocolate companies — “‘knowingly profited’ from the illegal work of children.” In doing so, the defendants actively participated in “aiding and abetting the illegal enslavement of thousands of children,” some of whom were tragically kidnapped or sold by their parents.
Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention said Mars continued operating in Russia despite pledging to reduce its business, halt advertising, and stop product imports and exports. The agency cited 2022 Russian revenue of $2.45 billion, net profit of $377 million, more than $93 million in taxes, and over 100 job vacancies.
The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has included two leading food corporations, PepsiCo and Mars, on the list of international sponsors of the war. Despite the declaration of reduction of their business, cessation of advertising activities, and production of their products, they continue to work in the Russian Federation, paying significant taxes to its budget, thereby supporting the economy of the aggressor country...
B4Ukraine reported on July 1, 2025, citing Forbes.ru, that Mars leased more than 40,000 square meters in a Moscow logistics complex under construction. The report said consultants linked the new space to business growth, despite Mars’ 2022 pledge to halt new investments. B4Ukraine said Mars did not respond to its questions.
US company Mars (owner of brands such as Snickers, Twix, Mars, M&M’s, Skittles, Orbit, Pedigree, Royal Canin, and Whiskas) has leased over 40,000 sq m in a logistics complex under construction in Moscow, Forbes.ru reports.
A CBS News investigation reported in November 2023 that children, including some as young as five, were working on Ghanaian farms supplying cocoa for Mars products, and questioned the accuracy and follow-up of monitoring records. Mars condemned child labor, said it was investigating the claims, and cited its 2025 target for monitoring systems and coverage of more than 65% of its West African cocoa supply.
According to a CBS News investigation published Wednesday, Mars Inc., a leading manufacturer in petcare, snacking and food brands, has kids as young as 5 years old working in cocoa fields in Ghana that supply the company with the beans they need to make chocolate bars. This, the outlet said, is despite Mars’ pledge to eradicate the use of child labor in their supply chain by 2025.
In 2018, a federal appeals court upheld dismissal of a consumer suit alleging Mars violated California law by not disclosing possible forced child labor in its cocoa supply chain on product labels. The court said the alleged nondisclosure was not a physical defect requiring disclosure. Mars said it opposed forced labor and was working to address the problem.
Some of the cocoa in Mars chocolate bars may be the product of slave labor by children in Africa, but the company has no legal duty to disclose that information on its product labels, a federal appeals court has ruled. A lawsuit filed in San Francisco in 2015 accused Mars Inc. of violating California truth-in-labeling laws. The company gets some of its cocoa beans from Ivory Coast, where the International Labor Organization says cocoa production involves “the worst forms of child labor.” U.S. labor officials have reported that some children working in the industry have been kidnapped, or sold by their parents to traffickers, and then are forced to perform hazardous tasks. A 2010 California law has required Mars to disclose on its website its efforts to combat slavery and labor abuses. The company’s website currently describes forced labor as “the human rights issue that may pose the most severe risk to people in our supply chain,” and says Mars has an “action-oriented framework” to improve conditions but gives no details...The Bay Area resident’s suit, drafted as a class action, alleged that consumers would pay less for Mars chocolates, or would not buy them, if their labels mentioned slave labor. The suit claimed the nondisclosure violates state laws against “unlawful, unfair or fraudulent” business practices. In a ruling Monday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said many consumers now consider a company’s labor practices when buying household products, and some manufacturers are informing customers that their products are free of labor abuses. But the court said California law, as interpreted by both state and federal courts, does not require a company to label its products as possibly being produced by child or slave labor. The court cited its own 2012 ruling that said manufacturers have a duty to disclose labor practices in their supply chain only when those practices cause an “unreasonable safety hazard” to consumers. Some California appellate courts have interpreted the labeling requirements more broadly, mandating disclosure of defects that a “reasonable consumer” would consider important in making purchasing decisions. But the federal court said those rulings apply only to physical defects that “relate to a product’s central function.” In this case, Mars’ “alleged lack of disclosure about the existence of slave labor in the supply chain is not a physical defect at all, much less one related to the chocolate’s function as chocolate,” Judge A. Wallace Tashima said in a 3-0 ruling upholding a federal judge’s dismissal of the suit. Similar suits against Nestlé and Hershey’s, filed in San Francisco by the same law firm, have also been dismissed by a federal magistrate...Mars said it was pleased with the ruling. “We have never condoned the use of forced labor — or any human rights abuses — in our supply chain and continue to combat this disturbing and complex problem working with international organizations, governments and (nongovernmental organizations),” said a representative for the company. “But Mars believes that consumer class-action litigation does not aid the concerted efforts to eradicate these practices, because it offers no solution to the underlying human rights issues.”
Mars sales in Russia rose 14% to 177 billion roubles in 2022, and profit increased 58% to 27 billion, according to the report. Mars Wrigley global president Andrew Clarke later said the company was minimizing its Russian operations, without details. Mars and other U.S. groups said they would sell only “essential” products.
The US groups stayed in Russia as they are not sanctioned businesses, but all three said they would sell only “essential” products, even as some other businesses pulled out amid outrage at Mr Putin’s war in Ukraine.
PETA urged a boycott of Mars products, alleging the company funded animal experiments, including a UCSF study involving rats, and filed a complaint with the FTC over what it called a false company statement. Mars spokeswoman Alice Nathanson said she could not address the experiments; UCSF confirmed the Mars-funded study and said it maintained high animal-care standards.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is calling for a boycott of M&Ms, Twix candy bars and other snack foods made by Mars Inc, claiming the company funds experiments that kill mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits.
Mars sustainability vice president Kevin Rabinovitch said the company seeks to count lifecycle emissions, from agriculture and packaging through delivery and product use. Mars reported a 16.4% supply-chain emissions reduction against a 2015 baseline. A program launched in April 2025 aims to cut scope 3 emissions 10% through supplier renewable-energy certificates.
Mars takes an “annoyingly thorough” approach to tracking its scope 3 emissions, Mars Global Sustainability Vice President Kevin Rabinovitch said on the Feb. 18 panel. The food and confectionery multinational looks to calculate the emissions of the entire lifecycle of its products, according to the VP.
Russian authorities opened an investigation into Mars over tax compliance and suspected financing of Ukraine’s armed forces, according to state media in July 2023. Activist Vitaly Borodin alleged, without evidence, that Mars redirected Russian earnings as humanitarian aid. Mars said it had donated $25.5 million to support Ukrainians and their pets through charities and organizations.
Russian authorities are investigating the U.S. food and chocolate maker Mars Inc. on suspicion of financing the Ukrainian armed forces, state media reported Friday, citing anonymous law enforcement sources.
Mars was among the hundreds of Western businesses to scale back its operations and suspend investments in Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Human Rights Campaign’s 2025 Corporate Equality Index lists Mars among companies earning top scores on three corporate equality measures. Its Mars Inc. profile reports full marks for inclusive benefits and no penalty, alongside a separate 5/5 score. The index assesses LGBTQ+ policies, practices and benefits.
In June 2021, SKITTLES partnered with historian and influencer Blair Imani and five LGBTQ+ creators for its QueeR Codes program, promoting their stories and visibility across U.S. cities and online. Mars Wrigley also planned Pride-month stories and discussions with its PRIDE! employee group; limited-edition Pride Pack purchases supported GLAAD.
To celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community SKITTLES® is teaming up with critically acclaimed historian, author, educator and influencer, Blair Imani, to promote LGBTQ+ visibility, spotlighting influencers and creators through the SKITTLES QueeR Codes program in cities across the U.S. and at SKITTLESQueerCodes.com. The brand partnered with five LGBTQ+ influencers showcasing their stories and experiences that range from drag performance to sign language performance, music, dance and makeup artistry.
OpenSecrets lists Mars lobbying expenditures of $2 million in 2024 and $1.94 million in 2023. Its contribution data show $426,481 for the 2024 election cycle: 56.93% to Democrats and 43.07% to Republicans. The site says the figures reflect reported contributions by individuals and PACs, among other sources.
A Harvard Politics article argued that because M&M characters are humanoid cultural icons, rebranding them to better reflect modern life was intuitive. The writer praised the new characters as representing empowerment, justice and vulnerability.
Given that the candy characters are both cultural icons and fundamentally humanoid, it seems intuitive that they be rebranded to more accurately reflect the modern human experience, one that champions empowerment, justice, and vulnerability like the new M&M’s do.