Skittles Got Me Thinking

I’ve never tasted a rainbow. “Taste the rainbow” sounds like something a mulatto gentleman would tell me in prison. I’m not sure if there would be a pot of gold at the end of that one, but post-rainbow tasting I would probably be walking like a dwarf.

Skittles is without a doubt one of my favorite brands out there. In some advertising circles, it’s not cool to say that- “Skittles is played out” is a likely retort. But I can’t help it, I’m tired of apologizing for the kind of work I like, and that includes, yes- Snickers, Old Spice, even HORROR OF HORRORS, ie DON’T admit this in a job interview- some Budweiser spots. Okay maybe not the one where the horse farts in the woman’s face, although who wouldn’t laugh if that really happened, but swear jar? Come on.

See, in advertising we’re jaded man (says as he sucks on a hand-rolled cigarette then flicks away ash from a straight arm down by his side with the other arm crossed over it). Entertainment is easy, we want something cereeebral, perhaps a useful social engagement tool or something REALLY cool like Chalkbot which admittedly is a dope idea but 10 ppl know it exists.

I’m tired of that argument. What’s so wrong with entertaining people? The problem is we’re not only jaded we’re too smart for our own good. We’re a gazillion dollar industry that needs to justify every move we make with multi-colored psychographics and consensus thinking. Let me tell you something, broheim, if Michaelangelo had to run the Sistine Chapel through as many hoops as the ordinary creative does it would have looked like this.

It would have looked like the goddamn ceiling from The Cheesecake Factory, and I don’t go there for the Renaissance artwork. I go there for the Bang Bang Shrimp because they’re downright delicious. And if Steven I-Can’t-Stop-Executive-Producing-Everything Spielberg had let a focus group approve the one-sheet for his first summer blockbuster it might have looked like this.

Enough already. Let’s cut down on the cooks in the kitchen. Let’s trust the people we’ve hired. Let’s make people laugh again. Let’s have ‘em grab popcorn for the commercials. But alas, most clients are quick to tell us-

And THAT my friend, is why I started my own agency. To work with the clients that are cool with full retard. Hey, I’m an entertainer at heart. Good instincts don’t need psychographics to back them up and they certainly don’t need a committee to approve them.

That said, I’m proud to announce my latest commercial for Jamstar, the cell phone content company. I got the brief, bought a costume and had some fun.

Full retard and proud of it.