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Skittles gives up the rainbow in June to support Pride Month

Last week was the first week that consumers could no longer “taste the rainbow.” Skittles gave up its rainbow of colors for the month of June to celebrate Pride Month and support the LGBTQ+ community.

In addition to graying out its colorful candies, the company will donate $1 from every package purchased up to $100,000 to GLAAD, a LGBTQ+ media advocacy group.

Although the colors may be muted, the constellation of flavors that normally fills a pack of Skittles remains untouched. The original five flavors of strawberry, orange, grape, green apple and lemon are all there, they are just all the same shade in the new “Pride Packs.”

This is the inaugural year for the “Give the Rainbow” campaign in the United States, and these limited edition packages will be available at CVS and select Walmart stores. Although this is the first time that Skittles has displayed the messaging that “Only one rainbow matters during Pride,” this marketing effort that removes the brand’s iconic rainbow has been launched in the Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom in previous years.

However, Skittles is not the only brand to celebrate Pride Month by changing up its packaging. In 2019, Anheuser-Busch released a limited edition Bud Light in rainbow-colored aluminum cans and donated $1 from each case sold. Similarly, Kind made over its Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt bars with a colorful wrapper and labels emblazoned with “Kind Pride.”

It is interesting that Skittles took the exact opposite approach and erased all color from both its packaging and product. However, perhaps it is this novel choice that will bring the brand additional attention during a month where many companies reformat the exterior appearance of the products to feature a rainbow.

“We believe that giving up our rainbow means so much more than just removing the colors from our Skittles packs,” said Hank Izzo, vice president of marketing at Mars Wrigley U.S. in a statement, “And we’re excited to do our part in making a difference for the LGBTQ community through our partnership with GLAAD, not only in June, but all year long.”