Skittles Embraces The Beauty Of Imperfection With Playful Rainbows

The campaign by adam&eve\TBWA brings a twist to the iconic colourful sweets

By Creative Salon

SKITTLES® is once again disrupting conventions with its latest out-of-home campaign, "Irritate the Rainbow," designed to be visually irritating yet amusing. The new series, part of the brand’s global ‘<verb> the Rainbow’ platform, continues SKITTLES’ tradition of irreverent marketing that subverts expectations.

In a landscape where campaign creative strives to be perfect, SKITTLES – a brand known for putting an absurd, irrational twist on what’s expected – created a campaign of maddeningly imperfect product advertising instead.

It features a series of three minimalist outdoor posters that, at first glance, showcase the iconic rainbow-coloured candies. However, the SKITTLES were meticulously arranged into patterns with deliberate imperfections. These small, calculated flaws are designed to catch the eye of passers-by, creating a sense of mild irritation and amusement, and ultimately making the campaign more memorable.

The visually disruptive posters were shot by photographer James Day and developed by the creative agency adam&eve\TBWA.

“At Mars, we’re always looking for ways to play with the unexpected,” says Fabio Ruffet, VP Brands & Content, Europe & Central Eurasia, Mars Snacking. “This campaign for SKITTLES is a perfect example of our commitment to creativity and to creating moments of fun for our audience. We're excited to see how people react to this playful provocation.”

Ben Stilitz and Colin Booth, Creative Directors at adam&eve\TBWA, adds: “We hope people find our new poster campaign for SKITTLES as irritating as we do. We spent many hours crafting the art direction to make sure we messed it up.”

The campaign is a testament to SKITTLES’ brand identity, which thrives on provoking conversation and creating a 'wait, what?' moment for consumers.