Another Weird-ass Skittles Commercial
by Guest Contributor Angry Asian Man, originally published at Angry Asian Man
A lot of folks have wrote in this week to tell about this really bizarre Skittles commercial, featuring two dudes yelling at each other in Thai and Tagalog. It really makes no sense to me at all. And I don’t know what’s weirder — that the two Asian guys are yelling at each other in different languages, or that the white guy has a multicultural reflection. “Reflect the Rainbow.” Get it? Me neither.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Monie wrote:
I’m still not over the magical (older) Black man Skittles spot. Where everything he touches turns into Skittles as two (young) White people look on in amazement.
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 11:14 am ¶
Rchoudh wrote:
Damn this is a wierd a** commercial! How the hell did the other guy show up as the white guy’s reflection? And with Skittles??? Who’s coming up with such nonsensical ads? They probably thought it was creative because the two guys were yelling at each other in two different languages (although to the average viewer none of these languages could be distinguished they all just look and sound Asian!)
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 11:39 am ¶
yesand... wrote:
these kinds of “gonzo” commercials are designed to grab your attention by being bizarre…which it does since we’re talking about it right now…but who really buys skittles based on a commercial?
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 11:42 am ¶
GEC wrote:
As a white person, I’m especially offended and despairing over the “gonzo” characterization of multiculturalism. The clueless, “what the eff?” white guy who’s buying the suit or getting fitted or whatever is MUTE! And his multiculti alter-ego in the mirror is a violent maniac. And the white sounding accent of the voiceover speaker has a smug “just do it” inflection similar to “Do the Dew” or Nike “Just do it” campaigns. The whole commercial is saying: “Hey uncomfortable white people who don’t want to see racist but feel too inhibited to even speak authentically to a person who isn’t white, buy our product and you’ll be hip and authentic without having to be uncomfortable.” The price of cultural competence: one bag of candy and a mouthful of cavities.
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 12:02 pm ¶
Ugly Deaf Muslim Punk Gurl! wrote:
I dislike those patronizing commercials. Skittles is candy… so why don’t they just market it as candy, instead of trying to claim itself as a pseudo-proponent of so-called “diversity”?
We fucking get it, you assholes! You want us to give you our money so we can eat your candy and ruin our teeth, clog our heart arteries, and then go back for more!
Just fucking get to the point already!!!
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 12:49 pm ¶
thepatriot wrote:
Don’t buy Skittles, or any other brand subsidiary (look up what the parent company is for these types of offensive commercials and BOYCOTT THEM). Somehow, not being racist has been conflated with not being politically correct/subversive and this is a dangerous trend.
Yet another form of the exploitation of POC. Sick. Not light-hearted fun. Not thought-provoking.
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 3:05 pm ¶
TheBlackSheep wrote:
I’m going to get crucified for this but…
I think they’re funny. Even the one with the “Magic Negro”. It’s so off and bizzarro that it just makes me go “What the hell was that about”? As a woman of color, I don’t find these particularly offensive. Maybe people wouldn’t have a problem with it if the mute guy was another race that you see less on television…like Inuit..and the reflections were varied in the same style. I don’t know…it was just so random to me that I laughed my ass off. I mean seriously…they aren’t even yelling at each other in the same language! I actually think it’s disjointed genius.
*waiting for the crown of thorns and the nails to be driven in*
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 3:42 pm ¶
Kyel wrote:
isn’t it symbolic how the alleged multicultural refletion ends up drop-kicking the mirror and destroying his own image?
and have you noticed that in the other folds of the mirror there are latino and black reflections?!!?!?!
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 4:24 pm ¶
Eva wrote:
I think this commercial was created by a group of people who were high on LSD or meth.
I used to date someone who worked in advertising and he told me many of the people who worked with him (including him) were either high or drunk all day.
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 5:27 pm ¶
pmb wrote:
White guy = detached observer of “diversity”, not a part of it. Isn’t that just what being white is all about – staying above the fray of the Others, maintaining control, and leaving the shop with the suit?
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 9:01 pm ¶
Roxie wrote:
@Monie: at leas in that one he called them out on it, telling them how NOT awesome it was.
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 1:57 am ¶
Melophone wrote:
I’m with TheBlackSheep here. I laughed my rear off when I saw this commercial for the time, and it would take a whole lot of explaining on anyone’s part to tell me why that’s wrong. It’s just so random!
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 2:01 am ¶
A.D. Nix wrote:
@ pmb: White guy = detached observer of “diversity”, not a part of it. Isn’t that just what being white is all about – staying above the fray of the Others, maintaining control, and leaving the shop with the suit?
That’s what jumped out at me as well.
Plus: Asian men yelling and kicking! That never gets old right???
@Roxie: Hm . . . hadn’t thought about that.
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 3:01 pm ¶
TheBlackSheep wrote:
Plus the fact that all he notices is the Skittles when all the reflections are of a different race is hilarious. Again…I think it’s so random and left-field, I can’t help but laugh!
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 4:06 pm ¶
Brinstar wrote:
I don’t get it.
The Filipino man is complaining that he’s hungry and that’s why he’s eating Skittles. I assume that the Thai man thinks that the Filipino man shouldn’t be eating them. I’m not really sure why.
Would I still not get it if I understood all three languages? I doubt it.
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 5:25 pm ¶
Brinstar wrote:
Er, I mean I don’t think I would get it even if I understood all three languages in the advert. :-\
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 5:26 pm ¶
Vanessa, Michigan wrote:
This commercial is hilarious.
I liked how the guy just laughed at the end after the mirror broke….killed me.
I also liked the previous one…where everything the black guy touched turned into skittles….hilarious.
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 6:08 pm ¶
Vanessa, Michigan wrote:
Did anyone catch that there is a black guy in the left mirror and a Latino guy in the middle mirror…..
Hilarious.
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 6:12 pm ¶
some chick wrote:
yeah i get it.
and it’s pretty funny.
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 11:45 pm ¶
DomiX wrote:
Yeah, I didn’t get it either.
Posted 30 Jan 2009 at 7:54 pm ¶
Luis wrote:
I was with it until they just started yelling to each other in different languages. All of the Asian characters in this series are short, older men who yell angrily in their native language. It’s only funny if you’re the kind of person who thinks watching people yell in languages you don’t understand is hilarious.
@Vanessa and “some chick”
Please spare us your attempts to act tough on the internet. We get it, you don’t like being told things you like or things you say may be racist, so you go over the top and laugh about it and high five your friends for sticking it to “political correctness.” It’s not fresh. It’s old news to people of color. We’ve seen the same thing since the good old racist days of America.
Posted 30 Jan 2009 at 9:23 pm ¶
Vanessa, Michigan wrote:
I don’t get how you can assume that I am white…b/c I’m not….so what are you trying to prove.
I like how you are trying to speak for all minorities….who made you the designated speaker for blacs, asains, and other minorities.
B/c I think the commericial is hilarious…which it is….you think I’m racist.
Why…you are a real winner
I didn’t know people weren’t allowed to have different opinions….I guess you also think that all black people think alike and any blacks who choose not to have the same opinion is just an uncle tom.
GEt over yourself and stop attacking people b/c they don’t have the same outlook as you, see things differently then you, or choose to actually do things differently then you.
If I was white…which I am not….who are you to say that I am racists b/c I thought the commercial was funny. You are so ridiculous it is sick.
I don’t even get how you can assume that I am white….(shakes head in wonder).
I also think it is retarded of you to assume that b/c you “thought” something was offensive…it is now offensive to all people of color…very ignorant thing to do.
Word of advice: Don’t go attacking people b/c they have different opinions then you b/c news flash not everyone will have the same views and perception as you.
———————————
People should also watch the skittles commercial that has the weird guy with the beard that moves around.
Hilarious.
the star burst commercial with the happy leprechaun….kills me.
Posted 31 Jan 2009 at 10:15 am ¶
Kaonashi wrote:
Eva: Your friend is absolutely correct. This baby was born from a late-night, zero hour brainstorming session!
Posted 02 Feb 2009 at 6:55 am ¶
method wrote:
This commercial strikes me as 100% harmless. If you look at the YouTube page everyone’s saying, “Hey that’s Filipino! They’re speaking Filipino on TV! Cool!”
If you want a theory, though, it’s “the white man as *consumer* of diversity”. The magical Thai-speaking tailor has a crazy magic mirror that reflects shards of identity onto the white guy. He’s the black guy, the Latino guy and the Filipino guy as possible aspects of an identity he’s being fitted for. But then the Filipino image diverges from his own. He has something that he doesn’t have–the skittles. The tailor gets angry because the Filipino guy is breaking the illusion for the white guy. The other images are disturbed as well–they’re just playing their parts. When the Filipino guy smashes the mirror from his own side he’s breaking his identity as a reflection *for* the white guy.
Isn’t this actually pretty cool? Especially since you might expect the Asian guy to be the submissive one–but he’s hungry, dammit.
To condemn something like this without first trying to understand it is idiotic. Stereotypes flourish because marketers and media makers want to stay in people’s comfort zones.
Posted 03 Feb 2009 at 12:45 am ¶
method wrote:
Actually, I have a suggestion for the authors of this site. Try to get the makers of these commercials in for an interview. They’re running an ad campaign around diversity and they might have interesting theoretical backgrounds. BTW, I just watched the one where the magic black guy turns things into skittles and LMAO. Why not say that the white kids ask him to entertain them and he burdens them with the particulars of his existence? “I guess it is ‘awesome’.” He refuses to be the cool old black dude (named Jim).
Posted 03 Feb 2009 at 12:58 am ¶
RJG wrote:
While I understand that with the society we have going right now, there is a lot of [c]overt racism that goes on, especially in marketing, but when it comes to adds like these I just don’t know if they’re even supposed to be looked at with that kind of deep analysis.
This new Skittles campaign has had wacky stuff going on for awhile. As someone said previously, “Why not just advertise the candy?”, but really they can’t because there isn’t much to say that wasn’t said already.
I don’t personally feel there is any specific racial undertones in these ads just because they made so many, and they do seem to be making efforts for it to be more than an all white cast in these ads. Pinata-people, singing bunnies, magic beards, sheep-boys, etc… eventually they were bound to cast someone not white having some odd quirk.
Man with living beard at job interview sorta-seducing lady interviewing him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WASn6PRG1Fc
Living pinata man angry about being hit because people think he’ll drop skittles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yPaLq1EpQw
Sheep-people eating skittles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKkZ3hkDF4w
First (?) one that started these, singing bunny thing traded for skittles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6nDyeV0i6w
Posted 03 Feb 2009 at 1:48 pm ¶
Yasmine wrote:
I think this is commercial is about equality and the fact that there are people of every race that enjoy the product known as skittles lol. If you notice…from the very beginning of the commercial all the reflections are different. It isn’t until one of the reflections pulls out a bag of skittles that the man being fitted for his suit notices something different to which he says, “hey..I’M not eating skittles.” He recognizes the reflections as himself (or equal), the only difference to him being the bag of skittles that the man in the far right mirror is holding. Here’s an idea..maybe the guys who are his reflection are actually in another part of the world looking at HIM as THEIR reflection…..but anyways….. As for the middle part with all of the yelling..I like that it was done in another language..not for humor but for cultural reasons. Then at the end of the commercial the guys says “REFLECT the rainbow…Taste the rainbow”…which i think is pretty much self-explanatory.
Posted 22 Feb 2009 at 3:00 am ¶
meryl wrote:
Basically this commercial is about a man getting a suit by a Thai tailor and wonders why one of his reflections in the mirror is eating Skittles and he’s not.
The man also has reflections of different race in the 3 mirrors: (left to right) African American, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander, who happens to be Filipino.
Translation:
Man on Suit: “Wait… I’m not eating Skittles”
Tailor (Thai): “Hey! You cant eat during work!”
Filipino: “But I am hungry!!”
Tailor:” “I don’t understand what you’re saying”
Filipino: “I am hungry so I am going to eat”
Tailor: “You lazy worker!”
Filipino: Don’t you… gibberish… Don’t do this to me.
Thai: starts speaking gibberish
Filipino: Son of a ****, I want to… *kicks mirror*
Thai: Hehehehe
Posted 25 Mar 2009 at 2:10 pm ¶
DAVIDTHEDUDE wrote:
DUMBEST AD EVER!!
Posted 07 May 2009 at 11:23 am ¶