DDB Chicago Imagines Skittles Cloud As Pet, Problems Ensue

DDB Chicago continues bringing out the bizarre for Skittles in a new campaign complete with some perhaps unintended implications.

The new spot features a cloud named Freddie, who, when walked by an elderly woman “rains” Skittles after being pet. Now, the problem with portraying a product as something that comes out of a pet while being walked is…well, pretty obvious right? Okay, I get that Freddie is a cloud and that DDB has been doing strange stuff for Skittles for a while now, but you don’t want viewers asking, “Is that cloud pissing Skittles?” — a distinct possibility here. In the 30-second spot, “Cloud,” Freddie responds very differently when a curious onlooker attempts to pet him, ending with the spot-specific tagline “Pet The Rainbow. Taste The Rainbow.”

The campaign features two more 30-second adverts, each following the same oddball theme, with Freddie going to the vet and the groomers. Additionally, DDB Chicago teamed up with PR agency Olson to build a remote-controlled, Skittles-dispensing cloud. Built from the ground up, the cloud “features two unique dispensing functions and a variety of fun lighting and audio features.” It’s a high-tech evolution of The Rainbow team’s past Skittles-dispensing gifts like pinball machines and vending machines, and a pretty cool extension of the campaign (we’ll hear more about this later in the week). Stick around for credits and “Groomer” after the jump. continued…

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