Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Skittles: “Taste the…Backlash?”


Skittles and Arizona Iced Tea brands were thrust into the spotlight after the story of Trayvon Martin’s murder. Trayvon had purchased the candy and the drink shortly before he was shot. Now, Skittles and Arizona Iced Tea are experiencing social media criticism for not extending sizeable donations in Martin’s name.

Should these brands be facing public backlash for something they didn’t want? Specifically, some say Skittles has benefitted from the unwanted publicity. BuzzFeed has a collection of tweets to that end.

Many people have written complaints on the Skittles facebook wall, but the brand is not weighing in on the conversations. The Skittles social voice is remaining silent.

For the full story, go to: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/11236.aspx

5 comments:

JGusan said...

Skittles will do best keeping quiet about this one. Eventually, like most news story fads, this too will fade. They have no responsibly or moral obligation to donate to this family.
What will they say?
"We heard that your son was carrying Skittles when he was murdered. Sorry we didn't get back to you sooner"

Tess Jones said...

Skittles should definitely not have to donate to the family. It was not their fault the child was murdered and they certainly cannot make up for it with a monetary donation.

Whitney Vick said...

It is ridiculous that people criticize Skittles, as if it was the cause of his death. The company needs to stand strong and refuse to donate. There are better things that the company's money can be used for.

Vickie Lynn Pustka said...

Seriously?? This is so silly. They might as well target the brand of clothes he was wearing too. These products had NOTHING to do with his death. I completely agree with everyone else's comments, there is nothing that Skittles can do that won't be totally awkward and completely unnecessary. This is where you see the bad side of social media. It's nice that everyone has a chance to voice their own opinion, but then you get the wack-os who use it for the power they don't have in the real world. I feel sorry that Skittles has to go through this bad rep right now.

Lindsey O said...

I agree with everyone else that Skittles should not be obligated to donate money to this family. It is an unfortunate situation, but Skittles did not play a role in his death.