All-White Pride Skittles 2: Electric Bugaloo

[TheGlyphstone]

So, back in 2017 Skittles launched a pro-Pride Month campaign that wasn't super well received:
https://time.com/4818777/white-skittles-lgbt-pride-month/

They've apparently decide to do it again anyways for Pride Month 2020:
https://twitter.com/ConnorShawVA/status/1267182061636501505


Support/representation, or tone-deaf cash grab?

[Brittlby]

HAH! I misread that! “White Pride” skittles seemed SUPER tone deaf! So... now that I understand, this seems less tone deaf if only by comparison.

[Skynet]

Obligatory link to H Bomberguy's WOKE BRANDS video.

[TheGlyphstone]

HAH! I misread that! “White Pride” skittles seemed SUPER tone deaf! So... now that I understand, this seems less tone deaf if only by comparison.

Yeah, I probably could have worded the title better... :-[

[TheGlyphstone]

Obligatory link to H Bomberguy's WOKE BRANDS video.

So having watched that, Bomberguy was funny but I think he did miss the point somewhat - or at least was arguing a different point than the one I'd like to discuss.

Obviously, corporate brands aren't doing campaigns like this from the goodness of their heart, they're doing it for the exposure and publicity. But is the end result still a positive thing? Is this representation/show of support still a net positive towards acceptance of marginalized minorities, however selfish the motivations for giving it might be? And in the case of Skittles, did they botch it by accidentally offending the same group they're nominally acting in support of?

[Oniya]

Okay - I've got two problems with this.

One (and the more serious one):  Last time they did this, the LGBT community was not impressed.  Doing it a second time is basically saying 'We know you got upset about this last time, so we're gonna do it again.'

Two (and this is purely me):  How the heck am I going to be able to tell the grape flavored ones from the rest of them?!?

[Brittlby]

Two (and this is purely me):  How the heck am I going to be able to tell the grape flavored ones from the rest of them?!?

No. I get it. I hate the greens now. It’s been 7 years since they changed them from lime to green apple and I still haven’t forgiven them. With all white skittles, it’s like a game of Russian roulette. Or like a box of those Bertie Botts every flavor beans... (I kind of liked the “dirt” flavor. No idea why.)

[TheGlyphstone]

Lemons are my worst flavor - I'd love green apple skittles over lime, myself.

Fun fact - the Bertie Botts 'weird' flavors were made from failed attempts at other recipes. For instance, 'vomit' was apparently a disastrously bad attempt to make pizza-flavor beans.

[Skynet]

So having watched that, Bomberguy was funny but I think he did miss the point somewhat - or at least was arguing a different point than the one I'd like to discuss.

Obviously, corporate brands aren't doing campaigns like this from the goodness of their heart, they're doing it for the exposure and publicity. But is the end result still a positive thing? Is this representation/show of support still a net positive towards acceptance of marginalized minorities, however selfish the motivations for giving it might be? And in the case of Skittles, did they botch it by accidentally offending the same group they're nominally acting in support of?

It's more a video I link to whenever I see a debate about corporations appearing progressive, as a lot of times the points are made are still the same. Said video was made quite a while ago, so things are likely different with this specific incident now.

I think the major takeaway is that it's very easy for companies to do something aesthetic like displaying a rainbow flag or activist hashtag, but at the end of the day a lot of them don't really care about systemic changes to better said communities cuz that can cost money and eat into their profit margins. Which is why a lot of times they can come off as 'tone deaf.'

[Lexandria]

No. I get it. I hate the greens now. It’s been 7 years since they changed them from lime to green apple and I still haven’t forgiven them. With all white skittles, it’s like a game of Russian roulette. Or like a box of those Bertie Botts every flavor beans... (I kind of liked the “dirt” flavor. No idea why.)

Wait, the green ones are green apple now?!! Green apple is my favorite candy flavor and it's so hard to find green things that aren't lime! If they're also sour, I'll be buying skittles left and right! Though I agree with the they're the same color and I can't tell them apart now thing. I don't like flavor surprises.

So, I get the sentiment they're meaning to go for with these, and that it's hard for a company product that is literally rainbow themed 24/7 to do something noticeable for pride, and on the surface, in a bubble where folks who are anti-pride/etc don't exist, giving up their rainbow and making everything the same and thus 'equal' is a really clever design move. And I like neat and clever design a lot; in that bubble, it's a neat idea.

But the world is not that bubble, and folks who scream 'white pride' and 'straight pride' are a majorly bad thing, and folks who say stuff like 'people are just people, I don't see differences' mean well, but often what that ends up meaning/coming across as 'I think everyone is like me, and I don't want to hear otherwise because it makes me uncomfortable and I don't think that other peoples' struggles are different than mine'. And folks often don't mean that, but it still seems that's what they're saying. So they've taken away the rainbow, which could also come across as a statement about being anti-pride, or a statement about 'white pride', and can and likely will be used by some bigoted person somewhere to that end.

I feel like no one on that idea team has any involvement in the LGBTQUIA+ community. The problems with the idea behind this are many.

[Bibliophilia]

I like the idea someone in the comments put about them coming out with bags of candy that are different pride flags, like blue, white and pink for Trans, or teal, yellow and fuchsia for Pansexual, ect.  They have the colors, because they have the other flavors of Skittles, and it would just mean printing up different bags for each one, which seems no more costly or difficult than printing the white bag.

By removing the color, it comes off more as anti-pride, or as Straight pride, and the need to explain the reasoning on the bag makes it clear they understand there's a high probability of it being misunderstood.

[Lexandria]

I like the idea someone in the comments put about them coming out with bags of candy that are different pride flags, like blue, white and pink for Trans, or teal, yellow and fuchsia for Pansexual, ect.  They have the colors, because they have the other flavors of Skittles, and it would just mean printing up different bags for each one, which seems no more costly or difficult than printing the white bag.

By removing the color, it comes off more as anti-pride, or as Straight pride, and the need to explain the reasoning on the bag makes it clear they understand there's a high probability of it being misunderstood.

I love this idea, that'd be so great! And a way to clearly show that they understand they misstepped and are trying to do better this time.