Touch: the original 2007 commercial

Read the campaign story

Skittles’ Touch starts with what appears to be a wonderful power: everything a man touches becomes candy. His colleagues are delighted by a demonstration. He is not. The film reveals that the same ability makes ordinary life impossible, turning a simple confectionery fantasy into deadpan discomfort. Communication Arts documents the execution and credits TBWA/Chiat/Day New York, director Tom Kuntz, MJZ and visual-effects company The Mill.

Contemporary July and August 2007 coverage establishes the original period, distinct from the following awards year. The setting is an ordinary workplace rather than a fantastical landscape. That mundane frame gives the impossible transformation something solid to collide with. The effects are part of a staged fictional commercial; no scene should be understood as a real event or a product capability.

Editorial reading: The advertisement takes a familiar promotional exaggeration and follows its consequences instead of stopping at the benefit. Unlimited candy sounds desirable until touch becomes unusable. That reversal creates a story engine with a clear rule. The audience can anticipate the next problem because it understands the rule, while the character’s seriousness prevents the execution from dissolving into random absurdity.

The candy remains central to the joke. This matters because strange advertising can be memorable yet interchangeable. Here, removing the product would remove the mechanism. The familiar form and colour of the sweets become the consequence of every transformation, repeatedly reconnecting the fictional world to the brand’s category. The execution uses product presence without pausing for a conventional feature explanation.

The tone is not universally transferable. The humour relies on implied harm and personal loss, and some viewers may find that unpleasant rather than funny. A small brand should not copy the darkness simply because the film is well known. It can instead test the broader technique: exaggerate one harmless benefit, then explore a surprising but safe drawback. Audience response should include discomfort and brand fit, not only laughter.

The sources verify the original execution and production credits, not a causal sales result. This study excludes later Skittles stunts and theatrical campaigns. The practical lesson is to construct absurdity with discipline. Establish one rule, let the consequences develop consistently and make sure the product is structurally necessary. An unusual premise earns its place when it clarifies the brand’s distinctive world rather than merely announcing that the advertiser is willing to be weird.

Define one impossible rule

Give the audience a simple premise it can understand and predict.

Make the product indispensable

Ensure the joke stops working if the product is removed or replaced.

Test discomfort as well as humour

Check whether the tone creates brand interest or simply alienates the intended audience.

A small test for another brief

Write a short comic demonstration with a consistent fictional rule.

Measure product recall, joke comprehension and discomfort.

Stop if implied harm dominates the product association or the joke works equally well without the brand.

• Choose a recognisable product trait.
• Exaggerate it into one harmless impossibility.
• Test two endings with different levels of absurdity.