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Skittles 'Blank the Rainbow.' The Dark Art of a Magical Campaign

This week on Tagline, the brand's golden age of surreal humor—and its revival a decade later
Brand Text
GSTV
 

Tagline is our podcast about the making of great ads. This is Season 2, Episode 2.


This week we explore one of advertising’s strangest and most delightful confections: the “Blank the Rainbow” campaign for Skittles. We look at how a product truth, combined with a cultural insight about millennial teens, led to a string of beloved, absurdist ads from TBWA\Chiat\Day NY in the mid-2000s—and how DDB revived that spirit in two subversive Super Bowl stunts a decade later.


Listen to the episode above, or subscribe to Tagline here:

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Below, check out all the Skittles ads we talk about on the episode, and images from the Skittles Brand Book, created by Ashley Marshall and Craig Allen in 2006.


The Ads


Skittles Brand Book (2006)

Click the images to enlarge

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Tim Nudd
Tim Nudd was editor in chief of the Clio Awards and editor of Muse by Clio from 2018 to 2023.

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