Skittles Commercial Essay

The Skittles commercial entitled “Romance” begins with a zoomed-in camera angle of a teenage boy pouring a bag of skittles into his hands. At this point it is visible that the boy is wearing a blue hoodie accompanied by a blue, gray, and white shirt. The skittle bag itself is exaggerated in color and works to draw the attention of the viewer to the bag as its brilliant red gleams comparatively to the dull background of the boy's shirt. As the skittles are poured into the hands of the boy, the sound of the skittles rustling down and out of the bag is also audible compared to the relative silence that surrounds it.
After approximately two seconds, the camera proceeds to zoom out to show the teenage boy taking the skittles into his fist, to where
Skittles does this most obviously through the beginning premise of the commercial, or the idea of a young boy in love with a girl throwing rocks at her window to get her attention. In using this idea they trigger a sense of nostalgia in many of their viewers who remember being young and in-love while also making their brand relatable and simply more likable. They also appeal to pathos through the allusion back to the classic Shakespearean masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet. The throwing of skittles at the girl’s window seal, vegetation on the house, the fact that the ad takes place at night are all clear allusions to the classic
The most clear way this is done is through the repeated use of situational irony. There is clear irony that the teenage boy would arrive in the night, obviously to preserve secrecy from the girl’s parents, for it only to turn out that the parents are aware he's there but also taking part in eating the skittles that the boy throws. Irony is also evident in the actions of the police officer, robber, and the whole family in the house. The common reaction of a family to a robber in their house is fear, not stopping to eat Skittles and the same could be said about a robber's reaction to a