Skittles: Lime Apology
The client wanted to reintroduce the lime Skittles flavor after years of fan demand. The campaign needed to acknowledge the previous removal as a mistake, generate positive buzz, and celebrate the flavor's return in a distinctly Skittles - humorous and self-aware - way. The goal was to delight loyal consumers and reinforce brand love.
Creative Idea
Skittles apologized for removing lime, bringing it back with self-aware humor.
Skittles apologized for removing lime by making the candies themselves express regret, creating a humorous, self-aware campaign that delighted fans with the return of their beloved flavor.
The Ten Hour Mea Culpa for Flavorgate
138,880 Individual Acts of Contrition
To rectify a decade of consumer resentment, the team at DDB utilized social listening tools to catalog every single complaint regarding the 2013 removal of Lime. These were categorized into a spreadsheet of doom with themes like Childhood Ruined and Evil Winning. The brand then issued 138,880 individual apologies, matching the exact number of unique online grievances found. This strategy resulted in a 7.4% YoY sales lift and the highest core sales revenue in the brand's history.
Surrealism and the Ten Hour Scroll
The production, led by the director duo Fatal Farm and production company Picrow, leaned into an aesthetic of corporate discomfort. Actor Jeff Lewis was cast as the fictional Communications Director Michael Wheby specifically for his ability to appear "desperately trying to be professional." The campaign’s centerpiece was a massive digital execution featuring a video that took 10 hours and 54 minutes to scroll through every single handle of the people being apologized to. This "long-form" absurdity drove over 5 million minutes of watch time on Twitch.
From Vomit Bags to NASCAR
The campaign extended into physical spaces and high-speed sports. NASCAR driver Kyle Busch ran a custom Lime is Back livery on his #18 Toyota Camry during the 2022 Cup Series race in Austin. In a move to bypass traditional corporate distrust among Gen Z, Skittles leaned into self-deprecation, even highlighting a tweet from a user who claimed eating a Green Apple Skittle was so disappointing they "may as well have bought a vomit bag." Every person who had complained online was offered a free pack of Lime Skittles as a tangible peace offering.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
Skittles could credibly deliver a self-aware, humorous apology for a past flavor change, bringing back a fan-favorite.
Category
Candy brands typically focus on taste, fun, or newness, often avoiding past controversies or mistakes.
Customer
Fans felt betrayed by the removal of lime and passionately desired its return, expressing their outrage online.
Culture
A culture of online fan engagement and brand accountability made a public, humorous apology resonate deeply.
Company
Skittles could credibly deliver a self-aware, humorous apology for a past flavor change, bringing back a fan-favorite.
Category
Candy brands typically focus on taste, fun, or newness, often avoiding past controversies or mistakes.
Strategy:
Skittles humorously acknowledged their past mistake, engaging fans by bringing back a beloved flavor.
Customer
Fans felt betrayed by the removal of lime and passionately desired its return, expressing their outrage online.
Culture
A culture of online fan engagement and brand accountability made a public, humorous apology resonate deeply.
Strategy:
Skittles humorously acknowledged their past mistake, engaging fans by bringing back a beloved flavor.
Results
The campaign achieved the following results: - 130,880 people complained online about the lime Skittles being replaced with green apple. - Skittles issued 2,695 individual apologies on Twitter. - A massive online apology post was created, taking 10 hours and 54 minutes to read. - The live apology press conference on Twitch generated over 5 million viewing minutes. - Google searches for "Skittles Lime" saw a 1000% increase. - Fast Company called the apology "pretty close to a masterpiece." - Original pack sales rose by 21%.
5M+
Twitch viewing minutes
1000%
increase in Google searches for 'Skittles Lime'
21%
increase in original pack sales
Strategy Technique
Make the Product Misbehave
The Skittles candies themselves were personified as regretful, delivering apologies for the lime flavor's absence. This created drama and entertainment by making the product the source of the campaign's humorous narrative.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Lean Into the Problem
Skittles directly addressed the past controversy of removing lime. They turned fan outrage into a humorous, self-aware campaign by apologizing for their - 'mistake'.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft is exceptional in its brilliant, self-aware idea to transform consumer anger into widespread engagement through a multi-platform apology, executed with masterful copywriting and creative digital activations.
The campaign masterfully uses humor and self-awareness in its apologies, directly quoting angry consumer tweets and transforming them into the script for the live press conference and numerous individual replies.
The innovative use of Twitch for a live 35-minute press conference, the execution of 2,695 individual Twitter apologies, and the creation of a 10-hour online apology post demonstrates a sophisticated and creative application of digital platforms.
The magic of this campaign comes from the seamless integration of a brilliant central idea with exceptional copywriting and creative digital execution, amplified by strong performances to deliver a memorable and impactful brand apology.
