Skittles is urging fans to stop throwing candy at musicians, and the company has even taken out a full-page ad to spread the message.
The candy brand’s new campaign appears to be a direct response to an incident involving Harry Styles. Apparently, a concertgoer kept throwing Skittles at the “Watermelon Sugar” composer while he was onstage at a recent event. TikTok videos show Styles keeping his cool but shielding his eyes from the rainbow-colored candies flying toward him.
The official Skittles account addressed the matter first on Twitter, sharing on November 15, “Didn’t think I needed to say this: Please don’t throw Skittles.”
But that wasn’t all. A recent edition of the Los Angeles Times featured a full-page ad intended to spread the message even further.
“Protect the rainbow. Taste the rainbow. But please, don’t throw the rainbow,” the text said over a graphic of heart-shaped sunglasses with a green Skittle being thrown toward them. The bottom of the image included a public service announcement for fans. “PSA: Protect your eyes from Skittles (by eating them, not throwing them),” it said.
PSA: Protect your eyes from Skittles (by eating them, not throwing them) pic.twitter.com/1qy1bOYeSt
— SKITTLES (@Skittles) November 19, 2022
Styles’ bandmate Pauli the PSM held an Instagram Live session following the Skittles incident and told fans the musician was fine, but that they should stop throwing things at him. “But do me a favor, don’t throw no more Skittles on stage,” he said, per Billboard.
For some reason, Styles’ fans have a penchant for throwing food items at him while he’s performing. Over the summer, the “Night Changes” singer got pelted with a chicken nugget as he was singing.
“Who threw the chicken nugget?” he said, as the fans in the crowd chanted, “Eat it!”
Styles replied, “I don’t eat chicken, sorry. I don’t eat meat.”
The Skittles brand is owned by Mars, Incorporated, a multi-billion dollar, privately-owned confectionery company based in McLean, Virginia. Earlier this summer, the brand also faced backlash for refusing to remove an allegedly toxic ingredient from Skittles candies.
Per a lawsuit filed at the time, Mars had pledged to remove the colorant titanium dioxide (TiO2) from its ingredients list back in 2016 but had failed to do so. The food additive is banned in the European Union due to potentially harmful side effects. TiO2 is often found in paint, adhesives, plastics, and some roofing materials.