Skittles: Recolour The Rainbow
Skittles wanted to evolve their Give the Rainbow platform with adam&eveDDB London to avoid rainbow washing fatigue. They needed to deepen their connection with the LGBTQ+ community, specifically Gen Z, by moving from a symbolic gesture to a meaningful contribution that celebrated Pride's history and increased brand penetration during the 2021 season.
Creative Idea
Using the brand's donated colors to restore vibrancy to black - and - white LGBTQ+ historical archives.
Skittles evolved its tradition of removing its rainbow by using those donated colors to restore iconic black - and - white photographs from LGBTQ+ history, transforming a symbolic gesture into a tangible act of preserving and celebrating queer visibility.
Giving Back the Rainbow to Restore Queer History
From White Packs to Grayscale Evolution
The campaign represented a critical strategic pivot for Mars Wrigley. Following a 2016 iteration that featured all - white packaging, the brand faced significant backlash due to the unintended association with white supremacist slogans. Learning from this, the 2021 initiative transitioned to a grayscale design. This shift allowed the brand to move beyond a symbolic gesture toward a tangible contribution: using its "donated" colors to fill "LGBTQ+ shaped holes" in the UK’s national archives, where queer history was often only recorded in black and white.
Technical Precision in Historical Restoration
To ensure the project was more than a superficial filter, the agency partnered with Dynamichrome and historical colorist Jordan Lloyd. The production involved deep archival research to identify the specific shades of clothing, banners, and skin tones from the 1971 Gay Liberation Front protest and the 1985 Lesbian Strength March. This technical rigor was paired with a £550,000 investment in experiential and digital assets, including "tap to colour" Instagram Stories that allowed users to manually restore vibrancy to the images.
Authentic Engagement and Gen Z Growth
The initiative successfully bypassed "rainbow washing" fatigue, driving a +14% brand penetration among shoppers under 28. Beyond the 6 million earned impressions, the campaign fostered intergenerational dialogue by featuring activists like Femi Otitoju in a video series. The project culminated in a permanent cultural legacy, as the restored photographs were donated to Queer Britain, the UK’s first national LGBTQ+ museum, and the brand met its $100,000 donation goal for GLAAD.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
A brand with a famous rainbow asset and a multi - year commitment to giving it up during Pride month.
Category
Brands often engage in rainbow washing with superficial logo changes that lack depth or real community contribution.
Customer
LGBTQ+ individuals who felt their history was often erased, invisible, or only preserved in grainy, colorless archives.
Culture
A growing cultural demand for brands to move from passive allyship to active participation in social justice.
Company
A brand with a famous rainbow asset and a multi - year commitment to giving it up during Pride month.
Category
Brands often engage in rainbow washing with superficial logo changes that lack depth or real community contribution.
Strategy:
Transform a symbolic brand sacrifice into a functional tool for restoring and celebrating marginalized community history.
Customer
LGBTQ+ individuals who felt their history was often erased, invisible, or only preserved in grainy, colorless archives.
Culture
A growing cultural demand for brands to move from passive allyship to active participation in social justice.
Strategy:
Transform a symbolic brand sacrifice into a functional tool for restoring and celebrating marginalized community history.
Results
The campaign achieved significant results, including over 7 million rainbowless packs sold to date and over 250k raised for charity partners like Switchboard. It was voted the best LGBTQ+ supporting partnership with Gay Times and recognized as one of the top three brands driving a positive impact for the LGBTQ+ community. The campaign delivered 7.6 million total impressions, and 40% of all Skittles purchases during the campaign period were a direct result of Pride.
7.6M
total impressions
40%
of purchases direct result of Pride
7M+
rainbowless packs sold
Strategy Technique
Turn Brand Values Into Action
Skittles moved beyond the symbolic gesture of white packaging to actively contribute to the community by preserving history and supporting archives like Queer Britain and Switchboard.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Spotlight the Overlooked
By restoring color to marginalized historical moments, the campaign literally brings visibility to overlooked figures and events, making the community's history feel vibrant and relevant to a new generation.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The campaign's craft is exceptional due to its meticulous historical research and the high-quality digital recoloring that brings archival moments to life with authenticity and emotional resonance.
The digital recoloring of historical photos is executed with incredible detail, making the past feel immediate and vibrant.
The clean, minimalist aesthetic effectively highlights the transition from black and white to the full-color Pride spectrum.
The messaging is concise and powerful, effectively connecting the brand's 'rainbowless' initiative to a deeper historical purpose.
The use of mobile billboards near Pride marches creates a direct and meaningful connection with the community in a relevant context.
The combination of high-end visual effects and thoughtful historical research creates a powerful narrative that elevates the brand's long-standing Pride initiative.
