I remember how I blogged about Skittles and its social performances in my first class of PRFandP (Public Relations, Functions and Practise) last semester. We certainly can qualify their "rainbow" advertising campaign of strange but it was tremendously successful! Note to myself: I still can't believe I posted this video on my first class in PR at NYU... Now, I will avoid sharing weird Skittles' videos with my classmates and this time I am bringing Skittles into the spotlight but for a whole different reason. After a
having a guest speaker about crisis communication last Monday and having heard a lot about Trayvon Martin's story , I thought it would be interesting to share this article in the PR News with all of you.
The main facts of the story:
- Death of Trayvon Martin
- The shooter claims self-defense
- The only items found on Martin's body: an Arizona Iced Tea and a bag of Skittles
The repercussions:
- Petition with over 2 million signatures
- Thousands of people around the country taken the streets
Where Skittles is involved against their will:
- Protestors are asked to bring Skittles with them to the marches
- T-Shirts being sold and include a bag of Skittles at no cost
- Photos are being posted on SM sites of people donning hoodies with a Skittles bag in their mouth, symbolizing the silence from law enforcement
- and so on...
Clearly a nightmare for Skittles (or any brand) especially that the initial situation in this case was totally out of their reach.
This is a very good case study and I think Skittles parent company, Wrigley is responding well to the crisis so far. What do you think?
I think Wrigley's message/approach is great. In any case, the whole thing probably had a positive impact on their sales for Skittles brand.
ReplyDeleteAnca, I agree with you it surely has positively impacted Skittles sales.
ReplyDeleteHowever from a corporate communication point-of-view, where you are responsible for the image and reputation of the brand, would you consider this event positive? In this story, Skittles is associated with a strong law enforcement movement. And it is very delicate to answer to this movement since you don't want to promote the fact that it has increased the sales of Skittles.
Indeed very delicate situation for Wrigley!