Smarties and Skittles get quirky.

The two commercials can be seen here:

Smarties:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGUriNVnKBg

Skittles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6nDyeV0i6w

When picking out two commercials to compare and contrast, a simple selection strategy was to choose two advertisements that sell a similar product. In this case, Smarties and Skittles advertising approach or "style", as McQuarrie and Phillips describe it, is also similar. This is where my comparison of the two commercials will focus, since "Advertising Rhetoric¸ Introduction" states “It is important to recognize that although style can be distinguished from content, style also communicates. The separation of style from content, together with the valorization of style, are defining characteristics of the rhetorical perspective” (4).

It’s interesting to note that Skittles launched their “quirky” campaign about four years ago in early 2006. Skittles has several (albeit subjectively) hilarious commercial segments under their belt: the "untamed" beard interview, the Skittles midas touch, the sheep boys commercial, and the one I chose, the opera rabbit commercial (chosen due to its similarity to the Smarties commercial, both using small strange animals, to be explored in more detail further down). Skittles was wildly successful, especially with my generation, by producing offbeat humorous commercials that seek to amuse rather than to promote their product. The commercials work because they create a word-of-mouth appeal through their bizarre approach. The strategy here is to be memorable rather than use a sensory level appeal on their audience. Skittles, as a successful candy company, does not need to sell their taste. Skittles are Skittles, and their target audience appreciates or doesn’t appreciate their product due to personal taste preference. The next step in their advertising campaign was to create an alternative means of impressing their already abundant consumer base.

Smarties released their blue cat commercial in early 2010. Producing a small, colourful candy not unlike Skittles, the Smarties commercial uses a small blue (weird?!) cat that talks in a funny accent to create their own quirky message. In the same manner as Skittles, Smarties does not appeal to taste as a food commercial might, but highlights the weird blue cat in relation to their product. To return to an earlier concept, the style here is to create a niche audience through humour rather than an through the taste of their candy. The humour lies in the lack of explanation in both commercials: why is there a blue cat and where did the singing rabbit come from? By making the bizarre element seem normal, the commercial appeals to an audience who appreciates quirky humour... and it works.