The Skittles commercial entitled “Romance” begins with a zoomed-in camera angle of a teenage boy pouring a bag of skittles into his hands. At this point it is visible that the boy is wearing a blue hoodie accompanied by a blue, gray, and white shirt. The skittle bag itself is exaggerated in color and works to draw the attention of the viewer to the bag as its brilliant red gleams comparatively to the dull background of the boy’s shirt. As the skittles are poured into the hands of the boy, the sound of the skittles rustling down and out of the bag is also audible compared to the relative silence that surrounds it.
After pproximately two seconds, the camera proceeds to zoom out to show the teenage boy taking the skittles into his fist, to where he proceeds to throw them through an open window upon a large white house, all the while he is yelling the name Katie in a hushed tone. It becomes visible that the time at which the ad takes place is night. The house he is throwing the Skittles at is a large traditional style home with white bricking; it is adorned by several windows, a balcony, and a small chandelier style light fixture.
The windows are framed by black shutters that match a black on white pattern evident throughout the entire exterior of he home, which includes the door, shutters, roof, and fencing surrounding the balcony. This pattern is only offset by the addition of the greenery that has attached itself to the house. The full body of the teenage boy from earlier has also become completely visible, showing that he has short brown hair and is also wearing blue jeans as well as what appear black and white Converses.
The camera begins a new focus on a teenage girl, who can only be assumed to be Katie, sitting in her room catching the skittles thrown in her room with her mouth. Katie has blonde hair, dark eyes, and is wearing a gray shirt with blue houlders. The room she is sitting in has yellow wallpaper and a bed with blue sheets. The wall itself is decorated with what appear to be pictures as well as several other adornments, yet these items are blurred out by the camera.
The bed, which sits directly behind the girl, has a purple bedspread as well as a large blue blanket folded and resting at the end of the bed. The bed also has two large blue pillows that rest atop it which are accompanied by a manifold of different colored Skittles that rest on the bed as well, which could must’ve been early attempts by the boy to toss the skittles. After the girl has caught and eaten two skittles, she then scoots along the floor, exiting the field of view, allowing a second person to move into the scene.
The second person to move in is a significantly older woman, suggested being the mother of the girl. The presumed mother has short brown hair and is wearing a blue floral print shirt with a red cardigan. The mother catches and eats a skittle then proceeds to scoot out of the scene, allowing a third person to enter. The next person is a tall man with thin grayish hair and a white plaid collared shirt. This man, who, must be the father, atches a single skittle and exits. An elderly woman, probably the grandmother, then enters.
She has white curly hair, blue eyes, and is wearing a white collared blouse covered by a light green cardigan. Sticking with the theme, she catches a skittle then exits. Immediately after she exits, a man dressed in a black hoodie and ski mask, who could only be a robber, quickly scoots into the scene, eats a skittle then leaves. Directly after the man eats the skittle, a police officer begins to enter, He has short brown hair, a mustache, and is wearing the stereotypical blue police uniform with a large silver badge.
He then eats the skittle and moves out of the scene. Following promptly, a puppeted ground hog rises from the bottom of the screen and catches the final Skittle. Throughout this entire process, the boy outside can still be heard calling for Katie. Also, after each skittle is caught, a noticeable crackling sound is let out from the chewing followed by a moan from each person, excluding the beaver. Finally, after the beaver had eaten the last skittle, a new background of a brightly colored rainbow with a contrasting blue sky appears.
The rainbow contains purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, nd a variation of different shades between them. A packet of skittles immediately spins into the page followed by the words “Romance the rainbow” followed by “Taste the rainbow”. These words are read aloud by an off-screen voice in a hushed tone, as if it were whispering. The first technique this ad used to appeal to audiences is emotional appeal. Skittles does this most obviously through the beginning premise of the commercial, or the idea of a young boy in love with a girl throwing rocks at her window to get her attention.
In using this idea they trigger a sense of nostalgia in many of their viewers who remember eing young and in-love while also making their brand relatable and simply more likable. They also appeal to pathos through the allusion back to the classic Shakespearean masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet. The throwing of skittles at the girl’s window seal, vegetation on the house, the fact that the ad takes place at night are all clear allusions to the classic work. Not only is there an appeal to emotion, but also to humor. The most clear way this is done is through the repeated use of situational irony.
There is clear irony that the teenage boy would arrive in the ight, obviously to preserve secrecy from the girl’s parents, for it only to turn out that the parents are aware he’s there but also taking part in eating the skittles that the boy throws. Irony is also evident in the actions of the police officer, robber, and the whole family in the house. The common reaction of a family to a robber in their house is fear, not stopping to eat Skittles and the same could be said about a robber’s reaction to a cop. The final device used is the brilliant and beautiful implementation of symbolism.
More specifically, the symbolic meaning of Skittles in he ad. The average candy does not bring a teenager to a girls house in the middle of the night, it does not bring a family together, it does not stop a policeman from arresting a criminal, and it most certainly doesn’t bring an extremely timid creature like a ground hog into a room full of people but something else does. Something far more powerful than candy. The marketing team at Skittles brilliantly turned their candy from just sugar and artificial flavoring into a symbol of the greatest unifier ever encountered. They made Skittles into the symbolic embodiment of love and friendship.
This ad all-around is extremely proficient in achieving its goal, to cause likability for their brand. The commercial itself is creative in the concept of molding the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet together with a modern twist that will cause a sense of nostalgia in many of its viewers. But its use comedic irony creates a likability that may not make someone wants to buy the product immediately but could sway their decision when they are eventually in the market for something similar. Ultimately, by symbolically making Skittles equivalent to something that everyone wants and likes, they in-turn make the product likable.
