Skittles Hit Me Again Tube Sock

Socks and Skittles :The Skittles Commercial that missed the mark

There is nothing like and the first sip of a cold drink on a hot summers day. I had been running around outside, and was extremely thirsty as soon as my mom poured me a cup of chilled apple juice. I guzzled it down quickly. As soon as I finished, I slammed the cup down as I seen on people at the bar do when they were ready for another drink on television, and hollered out "hit me again tube sock!" She glanced at me with confusion, and asked what was wrong with me, and I replied I wanted some more juice. She laughed and said something is really wrong with me as so poured it for me. I remember shouting "Hit me again tube sock" in reference to wanting some more of something as much as I could. My friends would laugh, and others would like at me puzzled trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I anticipated getting to say the phrase again because it tickled me so much. While the phrase was catchy and funny, I find myself trying to remember what commercial it came from. The content of the commercial doesn't even come to mind as I try to recall, only that phrase. To jog my memory, I searched the phrase and found it was a skittles commercial from a couple of years ago.

Skittles was featuring a new flavor called fizzled fruits. The commercial features an elderly couple sitting on the couch. The wife is enjoying the fizzle flavor skittles, and the husband calls in the tube sock to shock him on his tongue. The wife insists her husband try the skittles, and he refuses, and retorts he has enough shock and he yells the iconic phrase "hit me again tube sock" followed by the tube sock charging up enough static electricity and touching the man's tongue to shock him once again. This would not be an example of a well done commercial being that the commercial wasn't exciting, and aside from the phrase there was nothing else to make it memorable. It definitely didn't make me want to go out and get that particular flavor of skittles. Skittles uses simplicity in multiple of their other commercials, so that may be the angle they were trying to go with, but in this case it didn't work. Think about when you are flipping through the channels on tv if something doesn't attract you then you will not want to stop and watch it. In a more recent commercial by skittles, it features a pair of average teens that you would see in any school today. The male teen has skittles all over his body, and lets the female teen know he has skittlespox. She then reaches for his face, consumes a skittle that she retrieved off of him, and her body becomes covered in skittles. She asks him are his skittlespox contagious and he replies, " I don't think so" even though he clearly sees she has caught them. This commercial was also simple, but it worked. It is memorable, and you know exactly what it is talking about

On the other hand, the tube sock commercial was boring, and the tone was somber. A grumpy old man and his wife is something you can see every day, there is nothing about it that will make you stop and think you have to watch that. The life-sized tube sock was supposed to be what took the commercial over the top, but it just wasn't enough. It was missing a wow factor, and without one the commercial will not be remembered, which brings me to another reason it was not well done. If you do not remember anything from a commercial about a product then you will not remember the product. Maybe if the commercial were more exciting, I would have remembered it. Even though I could remember the phrase from the commercial there was nothing else I could remember from it. I would have never known it was a commercial about skittles if I wouldn't have looked it up. The whole purpose of an commercial is to get to purchase something, but you won't purchase it if you don't remember it. In an article, Psychology Today, William Klemm states that marketing research has established that most consumer decisions are memory based. You buy something because you remember a persuasive ad for it. Thus, advertisers seek to find ways to get consumers to remember their products and services. You are more likely to remember something that is relatable to you, and this would only be relatable to an elderly couple and they are probably not the targeted market for those who buy candy. According to brandongaille.com, people ages 55 and up make up only 25% of the people who purchase non-chocolate candy, so the commercial should not be directed towards them.

An example of a more memorable skittles commercial would be one featuring rock star Steven Tyler. More people would be able to relate to him than they would an elderly couple, and they would be able to remember the commercial because it has music, a celebrity, good visuals, and it was also featured on the super bowl. Another way to remember something is if it means something to you and this was not meaningful at all, didn't appeal to any emotions. It didn't grab the audience in a memorable way which doesn't persuade them to buy the product. A commercial is a type of advertisement, and an advertisement is a tool used to try to get you to purchase something.

When you think of the Burger King commercials just think how appetizing they make the burgers look. They seem to have the freshest pickles, onions, lettuce, and tomatoes, the juiciest meat, and the buns look so soft and nicely buttered. It makes your mouth water, and you want to stop what you are doing and go get one especially if you are hungry. Nothing about this commercial made me want to go out and buy this flavor of skittles. The point that they were trying to get across was shown poorly the shock of the tube sock was supposed to represent the same stimulation you would get when you are eating the candy. Being shocked does not feel good, and it is definitely not a feeling I would want in my mouth. The sensation the candy is said to give off is foaming, fizzy component the same as the fizzing reaction of Alka-Seltzer or other effervescent tablets, according to Cybele from the website thecandyblog. The sensation is not so much of a shocking sensation, but more of a fizzling, so the commercial with the tube sock proves for the candy has even less of a relationship to each other. The sock and the skittles have no positive correlation. The last thing on my mind when I think about something enjoyable is a tube sock. This could be one of the reasons the candy did not do very well. Wikipedia states the brand of skittles was discontinued in 2012 due to lack of sales. The Skittles Tube Sock commercial would not be an example of a well done commercial because it did none of the things that a commercial are supposed to do. It wasn't exciting, there were few aspects of the commercial that made it memorable, and It definitely didn't make me want to go out and get that particular flavor of skittles. As I look back at the little girl yelling hit me again tube sock it just shows me how impressionable adolescents are, and how they will say anything they hear not knowing where it came from or even what it means. The whole time I thought it was a funny way of saying give me some more, and not realizing it was actually about a man wanting to be shocked in tongue by an actual tube sock. Sometimes we don't always see the bigger picture only bits and pieces. That is why it is so important to put good content on television that are younger generations will see. Content that will make them sit and think and not just look and laugh.

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Source: https://medium.com/@arriellemcdowell/socks-and-skittles-the-skittles-commercial-that-missed-the-mark-66f0756b7c5f

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