Monday, January 18, 2010

Can anybody explain the Skittles ad with the singing rabbit?

Does it mean anything? Is it an inside joke? Is it even actual advertising? Does anyone in the business even know who David Ogilvy and Bill Bernbach are?





All I can get from it is that a rabbit that never stops singing and might possibly carry rabies is less desirable than Skittles. I wonder how much research went into developing that positioning.Can anybody explain the Skittles ad with the singing rabbit?
Well, um, a Rabbit with rabies that never stops singing is probably less desireable than accidentally putting a staple through your fingers. :)





As for me, I thought the commercial was funny, but I think they should have ended it differently. I think they should have ended it, with one of two things. Either:


1. The rabbit jumps out the guy's arms and he comes back with his entire singing family and they don't leave.


or


2. The rabbit lives in a hole that's right under the guy's bedroom window. And the commercial shows it going into it's hole and singing away. :)





Anyway, to try and explain the commercial...


I think the objective was one guy had skittles and the other had the singing rabbit. The guy with the skittles traded his skittles for the singing rabbit, thinking he could get rich for this rabbit with this amazing talent. Then, realizing that the rabbit never STOPS singing, he wishes he could trade it back. Then, the ending is just funny, that he loses the rabbit and his Skittles. :) That's what I got out of it. :)





Anyway, hope this explanation helps something. :PCan anybody explain the Skittles ad with the singing rabbit?
I think the guy with the rabbit has a scam where he goes around trading his rabbit for skittles, knowing that the person will take the rabbit back to him. He trained it to bite and return to him when the new owner returns to his house, allowing him to get free skittles whenever he wants.





I personally think it's pretty funny, just because of the noise the rabbit makes and for the sheer randomness of it.
I'm always telling my wife, if you think an ad is stupid or confusing, then you aren't the audience it's meant for (even if you think you are.) There are people out there watching this ad saying ';Yes, that's great, I gotta get some Skittles';, but if you are wondering about the meaning, then sit back and wait for an ad that speaks to you.





On the other hand, perhaps you ARE the audience and the purpose of the ad is to get you to scratch your head and wonder for a couple days about the ad, then buy some Skittles anyway. It could be one of a series of ads that are explained as the ads air, something like that-a teaser campaign. More research goes into these ads than you think. Even the ones you think suck work with the people they are targeted to. Mmmm Skittles...
Do you have a link for it so we can see it and then help you to understand it ?


David Ogilvy (a copywriter and true advertising legend) founded Ogilvy %26amp; Mather - later to be called O%26amp;M and now simply Ogilvy - one of the biggest and best agencies in the world !


Bill Bernback was a copywriter par excellence - he formed DDB (Doyle Dane Bernback) which is now also one of the big worldwide agencies in the world. His early heralded work includes greats such as Volkswagen and Levy's.


Check out either at


http://www.ogilvy.com/


and


http://www.ddb.com/

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