History Advertising / Skittles

* GlassShatteringSound: In "Rock the Rainbow," [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]] has his portrait made out of skittles. Said portrait is alive and to prove itself to its owner it keeps singing higher and higher until it falls apart. Only its mouth stays in one piece and continues to sing.[[note]]In a funny turn of events, when this commercial was shown on a segment on ''Series/ThisMorning'' in the UK [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG6WqvHtQks the commercial broke the autocue]].[[/note]]

* LivingDrawing: [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]] is given a portrait of himself made out of skittles in "Rock the Rainbow." It talks back when he disapproves of it, but falls apart when it's challenged to sing a few high notes. The mouth stays intact, though.

!!The new ''Skittles'' commercials contain examples of:

''Skittles'' is a brand of pill-sized fruit gummies encased in a crunchy layer [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS stamped with an "S."]] Its year of origin is given as 1974, but the identity of its inventor is a mystery which absurdity coordinates particularly well with the modern day avant-garde marketing strategies. All that is known is that ''Skittles'' originally were a candy in the [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} United Kingdom]]. In 1982, the Wrigley Company moved production to the [[UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates USA]]. Mars, Incorporated purchased Wrigley in 2008, thereby bringing the "S"-candy and its possible design inspiration, the [[Advertising/MAndMs "M"-candy]], under one roof.

The original ''Skittles'' pack consists of five flavors: lime (green), lemon (yellow), orange (...orange), strawberry (red), and blackcurrant (purple). In the USA, lime has been replaced with apple and blackcurrant with grape. In 1989, the first alternative packs ("Tropical," "Wild Berry," "Tart-N-Tangy") hit the market in the United States and it took another decade for them to show up in Europe. In 1994, the iconic {{tagline}} "[[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows Taste the Rainbow]]" was created by D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. With a slight delay, every ad since has included this phrase and/or a verb variation like "Drain the Rainbow," "Believe the Rainbow," "Share the Rainbow" and "Fizz the Rainbow."

During the first few decades of its existence, marketing for ''Skittles'' went with the generic "life is good and [this food] makes it even better" message. In the 1990s, ads emerged that went a more creative route, such as the catchy fruit gangster commercial and the series of rainbow farming commercials.

Then the millennium changed and with it ''Skittles'' ads changed too. As mentioned earlier, modern ''Skittles'' commercials are avant-garde and sometimes [[DadaAd only recognizable as advertisements]] because they end in a picture of the product accompanied by the command to "Taste the Rainbow." There's the one starring sheep with human faces ("Blend the Rainbow"), the one where a yoghurt boy haunts the kitchen of a mansion ("Fancify the Rainbow"), the one where a telekinetic man takes off another man's hand ("Touch the Rainbow"), the one where a skittles tree grows out of a person ("Harvest the Rainbow"), the ones with a giant living tube sock ("Fizz the Rainbow"), the one where a rainbow gets tortured in the basement ("Rile the Rainbow"), and so on. A lot of them incorporate some form of {{horror}}, be that HorrorComedy, BodyHorror, SurrealHorror, or FolkHorror, and a good portion of those that aren't horror still manage to be [[UncannyValley discomforting]].

The most notorious ''Skittles'' ad to date is the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl ad of 2018 ("Exclusive the Rainbow"). Normally, Super Bowl ads are seen by millions of people, so Mars Wrigley Confectionery decided to do the opposite and run the ad for only one person: Marcos Menendez. There were four 15-seconds long teaser ads made to generate buzz that star Creator/DavidSchwimmer and challenged viewers to guess which of the four had anything to do with the real thing. There were also two 45-second long ads of a fictional news reporter humorously defending the campaign. During the Super Bowl, people could visit Facebook for a livestream of Menendez's reactions while watching the ad. True to their word, that was the only ever showing and no one but Menendez has seen the ad. It is known that it was an ad centered around him, with a lookalike actor taking his place, his mom and best friend playing themselves, and some scenes taking place in his house. The campaign worked: the Super Bowl 2018 ad remains the most-talked about ''Skittles'' ad ever and it is considered one of the best [=SB2018=] ads in general.

!!The old ''Skittles'' commercials contain examples of:

* AbusiveAdvertising: "Believe the Rainbow" features three youngsters eating skittles while sitting on a rainbow. One of them poses the question if the rainbow is even real, upon which he falls through it and seeming plummets to his death. Its an implicit threat never to question skittles.
* AbusiveParents: The mother in "Harvest the Rainbow" refuses to call a doctor for her son, who has a skittles tree growing out of his stomach, because he's her orchard. Similarly, she considers his dream of going to college silly. From the state her son is in, he's not had a bath or change of clothes in a long time and may not be let into the house anymore. As a bonus, the mother is played by Creator/BethGrant, who often gets cast as an abusive monster.

* AmbiguousGender: Yoghurt boy in "Fancify the Rainbow" is called that by the valet. All the same, its MotionCapture actor is Sveta Onopa and DDB Chicago lists the creature as "yoghurt boy (yoghurt girl)."

* AbusiveParents: The mother in "Harvest the Rainbow" refuses to call a doctor for her son, who has a skittles tree growing out of his stomach, because he's her orchard. Similarly, she considers his dream of going to college silly. From the state her son is in, he's not had a bath or change of clothes in a long time and may not be let into the house anymore. As a bonus, the mother is played by Beth Grant, who often gets cast as an abusive monster.

''Skittles'' is a brand of pill-sized fruit gummies encased in a crunchy layer [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS stamped with an "S"]]. Its year of origin is given as 1974, but the identity of its inventor is a mystery which absurdity coordinates particularly well with the modern day avant-garde marketing strategies. All that is known is that ''Skittles'' originally were a candy in the [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} United Kingdom]]. In 1982, the Wrigley Company moved production to the [[UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates USA]]. Mars, Incorporated purchased Wrigley in 2008, thereby bringing the "S"-candy and its possible design inspiration, the [[Advertising/MAndMs "M"-candy]], under one roof.

The original ''Skittles'' pack consists of five flavors: lime (green), lemon (yellow), orange (...orange), strawberry (red), and blackcurrant (purple). In the USA, lime has been replaced with apple and blackcurrant with grape. In 1989, the first alternative packs ("Tropical", "Wild Berry", "Tart-N-Tangy") hit the market in the United States and it took another decade for them to show up in Europe. In 1994, the iconic {{tagline}} "[[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows Taste the Rainbow]]" was created by D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. With a slight delay, every ad since has included this phrase and/or a verb variation like "Drain the Rainbow", "Believe the Rainbow", "Share the Rainbow", and "Fizz the Rainbow".

Then the millennium changed and with it ''Skittles'' ads changed too. As mentioned earlier, modern ''Skittles'' commercials are avant-garde and sometimes [[DadaAd only recognizable as advertisements]] because they end in a picture of the product accompanied by the command to "Taste the Rainbow". There's the one starring sheep with human faces ("Blend the Rainbow"), the one where a yoghurt boy haunts the kitchen of a mansion ("Fancify the Rainbow"), the one where a telekinetic man takes off another man's hand ("Touch the Rainbow"), the one where a skittles tree grows out of a person ("Harvest the Rainbow"), the ones with a giant living tube sock ("Fizz the Rainbow"), the one where a rainbow gets tortured in the basement ("Rile the Rainbow"), and so on. A lot of them incorporate some form of {{horror}}, be that HorrorComedy, BodyHorror, SurrealHorror, or FolkHorror, and a good portion of those that aren't horror still manage to be [[UncannyValley discomforting]].

The most notorious ''Skittles'' ad to date is the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl ad of 2018 ("Exclusive the Rainbow"). Normally, Super Bowl ads are seen by millions of people, so Mars Wrigley Confectionery decided to do the opposite and run the ad for only one person: Marcos Menendez. There were four 15-seconds long teaser ads made to generate buzz that star Creator/DavidSchwimmer and challenged viewers to guess which of the four had anything to do with the real thing. There were also two 45-seconds long ads of a fictional news reporter humorously defending the campaign. During the Super Bowl, people could visit Facebook for a livestream of Menendez's reactions while watching the ad. True to their word, that was the only ever showing and no one but Menendez has seen the ad. It is known that it was an ad centered around him, with a lookalike actor taking his place, his mom and best friend playing themselves, and some scenes taking place in his house. The campaign worked: the Super Bowl 2018 ad remains the most-talked about ''Skittles'' ad ever and it is considered one of the best [=SB2018=] ads in general.

* AllBalloonsHaveHelium: In "Inflate the Rainbow", after refusing to share ''Skittles Bubble Gum'' with someone, a man blows a bubble, grabs hold of it, and floats away.
* AmbiguousGender: Yoghurt boy in "Fancify the Rainbow" is called that by the valet. All the same, its MotionCapture actor is Sveta Onopa and DDB Chicago lists the creature as "yoghurt boy (yoghurt girl)".

* BalconyWooingScene: Averted in "Romance the Rainbow". The guy throws skittles at the window to get the attention of his love interest. The window is open and rather than anwering she contently munching away at the skittles that come in. Until she scoots over to let her mother have a bite. Then her father, then her grandmother, then a burglar, then the cop that came to arrest the burglar, and then a beaver. All the while the guy rhythmically keeps calling out to Cathy.

* {{Cumulonemesis}}: An elderly woman and her pet cloud, Freddie, are the stars of "Nurse the Rainbow", "Pet the Rainbow", and "Groom the Rainbow". When the cloud is happy, it is white and rains skittles. When it's unhappy, it turns into a storm cloud and unleashes lightning.

* GlassShatteringSound: In "Rock the Rainbow", [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]] has his portrait made out of skittles. Said portrait is alive and to prove itself to its owner it keeps singing higher and higher until it falls apart. Only its mouth stays in one piece and continues to sing.[[note]]In a funny turn of events, when this commercial was shown on a segment on ''Series/ThisMorning'' in the UK [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG6WqvHtQks the commercial broke the autocue]].[[/note]]

* LivingDrawing: [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]] is given a portrait of himself made out of skittles in "Rock the Rainbow". It talks back when he disapproves of it, but falls apart when it's challenged to sing a few high notes. The mouth stays intact, though.

* PinocchioNose: In "Tease the Rainbow", a boy has skittles raining out of his ear every time he tells a lie. His friends and mother go out of their way to ask him the kind of embarrassing questions no one would be truthful about.
* PolkaDotDisease: In "Contract the Rainbow", the "Skittles Pox" makes people grow skittles on their bodies. Picking a skittle of a patient and eating is a surefire way to catch the disease.

* PuffOfLogic: In "Believe the Rainbow", three teens sit on a rainbow and enjoy their skittles. One teen asks: "Hey, what if this rainbow doesn't exist and it's just in our imagina-," and then the rainbow opens under him and he falls out of the sky, presumably to his death.
* RapidAging: A man's lifespan is tied to a skittle-filled hourglass in "Warp the Rainbow". The more skittles disappear from the top half, whether by falling through or by being taken out, the more he ages. His roommate doesn't care and eats the skittles, watching the man age at a very rapid pace.
* RottenRockAndRoll: Parodied in "Rock the Rainbow". When [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]] enters the scene, he utters the line: "Okay, lets do this. I've got minds to twist and values to warp."

The original ''Skittles'' pack consists of five flavors: lime (green), lemon (yellow), orange (...orange), red (strawberry), and blackcurrant (purple). In the USA, lime has been replaced with apple and blackcurrant with grape. In 1989, the first alternative packs ("Tropical", "Wild Berry", "Tart-N-Tangy") hit the market in the United States and it took another decade for them to show up in Europe. In 1994, the iconic {{tagline}} "[[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows Taste the Rainbow]]" was created by D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. With a slight delay, every ad since has included this phrase and/or a verb variation like "Drain the Rainbow", "Believe the Rainbow", "Share the Rainbow", and "Fizz the Rainbow".

* PinocchioNose: In "Tease the Rainbow", a boy has skittles raining out of his ear every time he tells a lie. His friends and mother go out of their way to ask him the king of embarrassing questions no one would be truthful about.

Then the millennium changed and with it ''Skittles'' ads changed too. As mentioned earlier, modern ''Skittles'' commercials are avant-garde and sometimes [[DadaAd only recognizable as advertisements]] because they end in a picture of the product accompanied by the command to "Taste the Rainbow". There's the one starring sheep with human faces ("Blend the Rainbow"), the one where a yoghurt boy haunts the kitchen of a mansion ("Fancify the Rainbow"), the one where a telekinetic man takes off another man's hand ("Touch the Rainbow"), the one where a skittles tree grows out of a person ("Harvest the Rainbow"), the ones with a giant living tube sock ("Fizz the Rainbow"), the one where a rainbow gets tortured in the basement ("Rile the Rainbow"), and so on. A lot of them incorporate some form of {{horror}}, be that HorrorComedy, BodyHorror, SurrealHorror, or FolkHorror, and even those that aren't horror still manage to be [[UncannyValley discomforting]].

* {{Cumulonemesis}}: An elderly woman and her pet cloud, Freddie, are the stars of "Nurse the Rainbow" and "Pet the Rainbow". When the cloud is happy, it is white and rains skittles. When it's unhappy, it turns into a storm cloud and unleashes lightning.

Then the millennium changed and with it ''Skittles'' ads changed too. As mentioned earlier, modern ''Skittles'' commercials are avant-garde and sometimes only recognizable as advertisements because they end in a picture of the product accompanied by the command to "Taste the Rainbow". There's the one starring sheep with human faces ("Blend the Rainbow"), the one where a yoghurt boy haunts the kitchen of a mansion ("Fancify the Rainbow"), the one where a telekinetic man takes off another man's hand ("Touch the Rainbow"), the one where a skittles tree grows out of a person ("Harvest the Rainbow"), the ones with a giant living tube sock ("Fizz the Rainbow"), the one where a rainbow gets tortured in the basement ("Rile the Rainbow"), and so on. A lot of them incorporate some form of {{horror}}, be that HorrorComedy, BodyHorror, SurrealHorror, or FolkHorror, and even those that aren't horror still manage to be [[UncannyValley discomforting]].

[[caption-width-right:350:]]

* TheMafia: The 1997 gangster ad opens with Benny (banana) hiding from five other mobsters: Lenny (lemon) and Larry (lime), Ozzy (orange), Suzy (strawberry), and the Undercurrants (blackcurrant). Lenny and Larry find him and juice him after telling him he never really was one of them.

* LivingDrawing: [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]] is given a portrait of himself made out of skittles in "Rock the Rainbow". It talks back when he disapproves of it, but falls apart when it's challenged to sing a few high notes. The mouth stays intact, though.

During the first few decades of its existence, marketing for ''Skittles'' went with the "life is good and [this food] makes it even better" message common for confectionery. In the 1990s, ads emerged that went a more creative route, such as the catchy fruit gangster commercial and the series of rainbow farming commercials.

The weirdest and most notorious ''Skittles'' ad to date is the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl ad of 2018 ("Exclusive the Rainbow"). Normally, Super Bowl ads are seen by millions of people, so Mars Wrigley Confectionery decided to do the opposite and run the ad for only one person: Marcos Menendez. There were four 15-seconds long teaser ads starring Creator/DavidSchwimmer that challenged viewers to guess which of the four had anything to do with the real thing to generate buzz. There were also two 45-seconds long ads of a fictional news reporter humorously defending the campaign. During the Super Bowl, people could visit Facebook for a livestream of Menendez's reactions while watching the ad. True to their word, that was the only ever showing and no one but Menendez has seen the ad. However, it is known that it was an ad centered around him, with a lookalike actor taking his place, his mom and best friend playing themselves, and some scenes taking place in his house. The campaign worked: the Super Bowl 2018 ad still is the most-talked about ''Skittles'' ad ever and it is considered one of the best [=SB2018=] ads in general.

* AbusiveParents: The mother in "Harvest the Rainbow" refuses to call a doctor for her son, who has a skittles tree growing out of his stomach, because he's their orchard. Similarly, she considers his dream of going to college silly. From the state her son is in, he's not had a bath or change of clothes in a long time and may not be let into the house anymore.

* MagicTouch: A man in "Touch the Rainbow" turns everything his hands touch into skittles, whether he wants it or not and whether what he touches is alive or not. He mentions killing a man just this morning and demonstrates how he can barely function due to his touch by picking up his ringing telephone and thus turning the device into skittles.

The original ''Skittles'' product consists of five flavors: lime (green), lemon (yellow), orange (...orange), red (strawberry), and blackcurrant (purple). In the USA, lime has been replaced with apple and blackcurrant with grape. In 1989, the first alternative packs ("Tropical", "Wild Berry", "Tart-N-Tangy") hit the market in the United States and it took another decade for them to show up in Europe. In 1994, the iconic {{tagline}} "[[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows Taste the Rainbow]]" was created by D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. With a slight delay, every ad since has included this phrase and/or a verb variation like "Drain the Rainbow", "Believe the Rainbow", "Share the Rainbow", and "Fizz the Rainbow".

Then the millennium changed and with it ''Skittles'' ads changed too. As mentioned earlier, modern ''Skittles'' commercials are avant-garde and sometimes only recognizable as advertisements because they end in a picture of the product accompanied by the command to "Taste the Rainbow". There's the one starring sheep with human faces ("Blend the Rainbow"), the one where a yoghurt boy haunts the kitchen of a mansion ("Fancify the Rainbow"), the one where a telekinetic man takes off another man's hand ("Touch the Rainbow"), the one where a ''Skittles'' tree grows out of a person ("Harvest the Rainbow"), the ones with a giant living tube sock ("Fizz the Rainbow"), the one where a rainbow gets tortured in the basement ("Rile the Rainbow"), and so on. A lot of them incorporate some form of {{horror}}, be that HorrorComedy, BodyHorror, SurrealHorror, or FolkHorror, and even those that aren't horror still manage to be [[UncannyValley discomforting]].

* AbusiveAdvertising: "Believe the Rainbow" features three youngsters eating skittles while sitting on a rainbow. One of them poses the question if the rainbow is even real, upon which he falls through it and seeming plummets to his death.
* BlobMonster: The Yoghurt Boy (Yoghurt Girl) of "Fancify the Rainbow" is a humanoid form made out of yoghurt. The rich kid in the commercial has his skittles pushed into the Yoghurt Boy's body to create yoghurt-coated skittles.
%%* GrowsOnTrees:
%%* MagicTouch:
%%* LivingDrawing: