Trans woman who is face of Hershey’s International Women’s Day says she’ll never shut up

The transgender woman who is the face of Hershey’s International Women’s Day chocolate bar has shut down her haters after they accused the company of not caring about women. 

Fae Johnstone, 27, said the backlash she received ‘demonstrates exactly how much the far-right is zeroing in on trans people and trans women in particular.’ 

‘The reaction to my inclusion as a trans woman in Hershey’s Canada’s IWD campaign shows just how far we still have to go in the fight for feminist liberation and trans rights,’ she wrote in a tweet on Thursday. ‘They’re coming for us. We need our allies now more than ever.

‘I’m not going anywhere. I’m not shutting up. I will always stand up for women and girls, cis and trans.’ 

The Canadian, who is a co-founder of a small consulting firm, is one of the new faces of the American chocolatier’s Canadian HER for SHE campaign, which launched on International Women’s Day on Wednesday. Johnstone and four others will adorn five different wrappers during March.

Trans activist Fae Johnstone, 27, is one of the five women featured in the Hershey’s Canada campaign, which has  since caused backlash from conservatives who claim Hershey’s ‘hates women’

Johnstone, a small business owner in Canada, has since taken to Twitter say she was ‘not going anywhere’ and wasn’t going to be ‘shutting up’ anytime soon 

The other women featured in the ad are Kelicia Massala, the founder of Girl Up Quebec, Naila Moloo, a climate technology scientist, Rita Audi, a gender and education equality activist and an Indigenous rights activist Autumn Peltier. 

Hours after the launch, social media activists began calling for a boycott of the iconic chocolate maker. 

‘Spurring an international campaign to boycott a chocolate company definitely wasn’t on my list of predictions for 2023,’ Johnstone wrote on Twitter. 

This is the third year that Hershey’s has marketed a product to celebrate International Women’s Day. Its 2022 campaign was fronted by woke actress and comedian Mindy Kaling. 

While Johnstone, the executive director of consulting business Wisdom2Action,  tweeted on Wednesday that the was ‘honored’ to be in the campaign. By Thursday, Boycott Hershey’s was one of the top trending topics on Twitter in United States and Canada.

‘Why does Hershey’s hate women?’ pondered one conservative Twitter account on Thursday. 

‘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,’ tweeted Abigail Shrier, the author of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters. 

Johnstone is just one of five new faces for the Canadian version of the Women’s Day bar, which will be available to purchase throughout Women’s History Month 

The other women featured in the ad are Kelicia Massala, the founder of Girl Up Quebec, Naila Moloo, a climate technology scientist, Rita Audi, a gender and education equality activist and an Indigenous rights activist Autumn Peltier

While Oli London, who announced his plans to de-transition in 2022, tweeted: ‘A biological MAN fronts the new Hershey’s campaign celebrating women for International Women’s Day. This is misogyny at its finest! A real slap in the face to actual women!’

In addition to the presence of Johnstone, at least one TikTok user was upset that Hershey’s highlighted the ‘she’ in the company’s name in the bars rather than the ‘her.’ 

A commenter said: ‘For those not understanding it could have read ‘celebrate her!’ Now it reads ‘celebrate she’ it’s grammatically awkward.’ 

On her Twitter page, Johnstone sent out multiple messages in support of the campaign, lamenting the fact that she did not have many transgender role models growing up. 

She wrote: ‘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.’ 

‘We still have a long way to go in the fight to end misogyny, patriarchy and gender-based violence. I hope this campaign helps give more young women and girls role models and possibility models. And shows them how we can be change the world, together,’ Johnstone also tweeted. 

Johnstone is the executive director of consulting business Wisdom2Action

She said the far-right is ‘coming for us’ and that those in the LGBT+ community ‘need our allies now more than ever’ 

B-movie actress Erin Marie Hogan was among those who voiced their support for Johnstone saying: ‘She is a woman. If terfs [trans-exclusionary radical feminists] don’t like it they’re free to f*** off.’

Twitch streamer Sarah Daniels wrote: ‘Thank you for representing us so beautifully.’ 

According to a post from Hershey’s Canada, the campaign will ‘shine a light on the women and girls who inspire us every day.’ Hershey’s has partnered with the North Carolina-based Girls on the Run this year for the promotion. 

The confectionary giant will be donating $10,000 to each the respective causes represented in the ads and $30,000 to Girl Up. 

‘The Hershey’s SHE bars serve as a heartwarming reminder to take a moment and shine a light on the women and girls who inspire us every day,’ a press release from the Pennsylvania-based company read. 

‘The brand is inviting fans to recognize the women and girls in their life through the simple gesture of gifting a Hershey’s SHE bar.’ 

DailyMail.com has reach out to Hershey’s for comment.  

 

Several took to social media to blast the company’s campaign some asking if they ‘hate women’ while others call for a boycott 

According to Girls on the Run’s website, the group is ‘dedicated to creating a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams.’ 

Republicans have put transgender issues at the center of their agenda, a tactic that many observers see as an effort to keep conservative voters energized and to push voters sympathetic to Democrats on other issues into the GOP camp. 

In the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders derided the Democratic president as ‘the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is.’