Here's the first spot from TBWA\Chiat\Day for Skittles Fizzl'd Fruits, a newly launched variety of Skittles that fizz in your mouth. It's a typically zany affair, featuring an old geezer who declines Fizzl'd Fruits from his wife, preferring instead to be zapped in the tongue by a giant human tube sock who pads around the house generating static electricity. As usual, the kids will eat this stuff up. As for the new candies themselves, the jury is still out. Candy Blog offers a typically exhaustive review, and isn't that fond of them. "I'm not much for effervescence," says the reviewer. "The caustic burps just aren't worth the tongue tingling."

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Skittles U.K. is currently eight hours into a 24-hour live-streaming Facebook stunt in which it is dumping loads of the candy on a man in a tank—adding more every 15 minutes, based on the number of new Facebook fans it gets. The man, David Phoenix, appears to be screwed, given that the Skittles are almost up to his neck already. He has already been subjected to 1,128,500 falling Skittles, with lots more on the way. Skittles seems to be gaining plenty of new fans, but could have done a lot better by hiring David Blaine—since everyone knows the British just love to screw with David Blaine.

TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York continues its long-running Skittles oddvertising campaign with this "Clench the Rainbow" commercial, in which two guys daydream about escaping from the clutches of giant fists in the countryside. They fail. Such is life.

A man sets his beloved old blender free—only to have it disastrously return—in this latest amusing piece of Skittles oddvertising from TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York. The spot is for new Skittles Blenders, which apparently feature two flavors blended together in each piece. It's hard to keep up with the Skittles brand extensions (the whole Tube Sock thing last year was for Fizzl'd Fruits), not to mention the various wacky promotions the brand has going on constantly. Just check out the latest incarnation of Skittles.com. It's literally never-ending, and surely hours of fun for all the "rainbros" out there.

The Skittles team at BBDO Toronto have put together another randomly wacky campaign. This time, they've figured out a cute and appropriately juvenile way to get you to physically interact with YouTube videos on your screen. Place your finger on the screen, and watch as it gets licked by cats, stops a robbery, wages war, hitches a ride (that's your thumb, technically) and upsets your Skittles-coated girlfriend. Of course, each video has a little twist. Directed by Woods & Low of FamilyStyle and edited by Griff Henderson of Posterboy Edit, the whole thing is called "Touch the Rainbow," and just like a blended fruit Skittle, it goes well with the U.S. work. Good thing, too. Thanks to the internet, my American friends have already got their grubby fingers all over it. Four more ads after the jump.

A magical Skittles rainbow that gets broken. A tiny dude stuffed into a weird wall closet. Giant trench-coated pigeons pecking Skittles off the ground. The candy brand's commercials remain as weird as ever in TBWA\Chiat\Day New York's new global campaign—targeting non-U.S. markets from Europe to Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. According to the agency: "The new work is designed to have the look and feel of the current U.S. campaign, but at the same time it will rewind the clock to earlier, more elemental Skittles work." The first three spots focus on "the idea of the rainbow and drew literal connections between the candy and the rainbow." See them here:

It's the end of an era. TBWA has been stripped of its Mars business—which means, among other things, that the agency's storied run of fantastically weird Skittles commercials is over. In many ways, the campaign defined the whole oddvertising genre, spawning imitators in the candy sector and beyond. After the jump, check out 18 spots through the years. Great work.

(This is a spec ad—not approved by the Skittles brand.) You take TBWA\Chiat\Day off the Skittles account, and look what you get—pure, unadulterated filth! Spec work by L.A. directing team Cousins. Well done, but extremely NSFW. Via @dabitch.

Cousins, the directors who did the crazy unauthorized, NSFW Skittles spot last year, are back with a sequel. (Spec work seems to be their specialty.) The couple who were having Skittles sex in the last spot are back—this time in hospital, where the woman is about to give birth. Daddy, of course, is expecting a little Skittle to come out. So, it's a bit of an issue when Junior turns out to be a Reese's Pieces. The Mill did the effects, and writes about the new spot here. It's hard to out-bizarre real candy ads, but these parodies certainly do. See the extended version of the latest spot here.

[UPDATE: DDB did the "Bleachers" and "Cranky" spots. LatinWorks did "Mentor."] Skittles has a new ad agency, DDB, but the candy brand's obsession with malformed anatomy continues. In the spirit of old TBWA spots like "Stable" and "Plant," DDB's new online spots feature one boy who dispenses Skittles from his stomach and another with "Skittles pox" who spreads it to a girl under the bleachers. A third ad, by LatinWorks, stars a girl with a Skittles monobrow. All three spots were directed by Rodrigo Garcia Saiz of production company Boxer Films. Inheriting the Skittles account, which produced so many gems under TBWA, is a bit of a thankless situation. There's a fine line between inspired absurdity and forced weirdness. These spots are a decent first pass for DDB, even if they're not on the same level as TBWA's truly transcendent Skittles spots with richer backstories and stronger dialogue, like "Touch" or "Piñata." Two more spots after the jump.

BBDO Toronto had a big hit last year with its Skittles Touch campaign (taking home gold Lions in Film and Cyber at the Cannes ad festival, for one thing). The interactive videos prompt you to place your finger on your computer screen where a Skittle appears—and then your finger becomes, disturbingly, part of the action. (In the most memorable execution last year, a half-man/half-cat stared you down while eagerly licking your finger.) Now, agency and client are back with five new Touch videos—ratcheting up the weirdness even further. The characters this time around include a cyclops doctor, a werewolf baby, a zombie, a princess and Sasquatch. The campaign is less whimsically weird than its American counterpart and more aggressively gross than anything. After each clip, you'll feel somewhat violated as you trot off to the vending machine. More spots after the jump.

Skittles' new "Liar Liar" ad is just as weird as the brand's previous efforts, but also a little meaner. The poor kid's friends and mom are exploiting what looks like a physically and mentally unpleasant symptom of dishonesty for their own gain, while previous ads were more benign in their absurdism. The only moral consolation here is that those Skittles probably taste awful. Ear wax is a terrible garnish, let alone what else those things picked up on their way out of that kid's body. On the flip side, this may be better than if he grew the stereotypical long nose and Skittles came flying out of that. Translation wrote the original script for this spot; DDB Chicago produced it, with some adjustments.

There is such a thing as bad publicity. Just ask Skittles and Arizona Iced Tea, the two brands on the receiving end of massive amounts of unwanted attention for their cameo appearances in the death of Trayvon Martin. The African-American teen had just purchased those items at a Sanford, Fla., convenience store on Feb. 26 when he was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch captain. The brands have since been drawn into a divisive, racially charged vortex. When protesters march with your product's packaging nailed to their signs and demand that you speak out about the situation—and flood Facebook and Twitter with allegations that you're profiting from the publicity (news coverage equaling free advertising)—you've got a colossal image problem. So, what's a brand to do? Skittles and Arizona each issued brief statements expressing their condolences to Martin's family, then saying it would be "inappropriate" for them to get further "involved" or comment at length. Here's the rub: The brands are already involved. Some commenters have already blasted the statements as lacking, the net result being even worse publicity for Skittles and Arizona. With all due respect to the brands, this isn't business as usual, and running out a few predictable lines vetted by the legal department won't cut it. What we have here is a failure to communicate—and it seems like genuine communication is exactly what the masses are clamoring for. Here's one example of the basic disconnect: The lead item on Skittles' Twitter feed for the past 12 hours reads, "Don't you hate when you can't find that portal to an alternate universe that you set down like TEN SECONDS AGO?" That kind of faux-hip mumbo-jumbo itself seems culled from some alternate universe where current news headlines ("Skittles' Trayvon Martin Publicity Nightmare," "Skittles' Facebook Bombarded By Trayvon Supporters") don't exist. This spotlight's not dimming anytime soon, and it's important for the brands to step up now. The circumstances are unprecedented—so, break precedent. Social media is supposed to be about engagement—so, engage. Not doing so in a more humane, forthright and expansive way suggests the brands don't care, and that erodes equity. What they choose to do is ultimately their call. Judging from the continued hostility aimed in their direction, I'd suggest they start by doing more.

At first glance, many Cannes Lion-winning ads from Mars— the festival's Advertiser of the Year for 2012—appear to be off-the-wall, absurdist and just plain random.

Take "Sheep Boys," a Skittles ad from TBWA\Chiat\Day, part of a campaign that won bronze in 2005. Sheep with human faces nibble pieces of Smoothie Mix Skittles sprinkled atop a tree stump like animal feed. They marvel at the dual flavors (orange-mango, peach-pear) until a farmer barks at them: "You two sheep boys, stop that jibber-jabbin'!" Sharks feed on Snickers-fed humans in BBDO's "Focus Group" spot for Snickers Peanut Butter Squared, which won silver in 2011. A male actor in drag portrays a mother in a Combos campaign from TBWA\C\D that won silver in 2006.

Weird? Sure. But in each case, the oddity is grounded in reasoning.

The human-sheep hybrids mirror the candy's unexpected flavor pairings. Combos, a not-so-healthy pretzel-and-cheese snack, is "What your mom would feed you if your mom were a man." And who better to rate a new Snickers bar than a big eater like a shark?

There's method to the Mars madness, say creative leaders who've become famous through their work on brands like Snickers, M&M's and Skittles. In separate interviews, four such leaders— Wieden + Kennedy's Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal, who were group creative directors on Mars at TBWA\C\D; Leo Burnett's Susan Credle, who worked on M&M's for 14 years at BBDO; and Barton F. Graf 9000's Gerry Graf, who crafted ads for Mars at both BBDO and TBWA— describe the candy giant as an innovator and risk taker, but one that is moved primarily by reasoning and consumer insights.

The creative renaissance at Mars that began in the late '90s has led to a haul of Cannes Lions: 46 bronzes, 20 silvers, 11 golds and a radio Grand Prix, for Snickers, in 2007. Honored were a dozen agencies on 19 brands in nine categories: TV, print, radio, outdoor, media, direct, cyber, design and promotions. (The tally includes work for Wrigley, though Mars didn't acquire it until 2008.)

Not coincidentally, Mars' creative run coincided with the arrival and ascent of Paul Michaels, who joined as vp, marketing in 1993 and became president in 2004. Before Michaels, advertising for brands like Snickers and M&M's was predictable and somewhat mundane. Snickers was "packed with peanuts," while M&M's would "melt in your mouth, not in your hand." Michaels challenged a new wave of roster shops—including BBDO and TBWA, which arrived in 1995 and 2002, respectively—to contemporize brands without sacrificing their core equity.

"He perks up every time we start to talk about brands, advertising and what to do with those. And that's infectious within the organization," says Bruce McColl, Mars' current global CMO. "So, other senior leaders obviously take a lead from him in terms of how critical it is to make sure we're pushing ourselves to do great work."

With iconic, brand-building campaigns like "Not going anywhere for a while?" for Snickers (a silver winner in 1997 that included the "Chefs" spot, which Graf helped create), Michaels elevated the role of marketing within a global corporation that today generates annual net sales of more than $30 billion.

CREDLE: [As marketing chief], Paul was independent, he was cocky, and he wanted to have fun. He was a little bit fearless. I think he realized that it takes a lot to really mess up. He wasn't afraid to just do things and try things. He wasn't afraid to be wrong. He told me again and again and again that the best time in his life was when he was CMO. He said it was just so much fun.

GRAF: He knew exactly how BBDO worked. Back then [in 1995, BBDO's creative department was split] between Charlie Miesmer's side and Ted Sann's side. And Ted Sann had Pepsi, right? … Charlie Miesmer's group won Snickers. … And [Michaels] said, "I know everybody at BBDO is dying to work on Pepsi. I want to change that. I want everybody here to be dying to work on Snickers and M&M's."

CREDLE: The best way to get the best work is to want the best people to work on your brand. Paul said that from the beginning, and I think that he gave BBDO the business—a lot of the business early on—because he felt that they would get him to the next place.

The reinvention took years of experimenting. Also, before Mars would change the look or tone of its ads, it needed assurances the changes would resonate with its core consumers. Indeed, behind every successful campaign were key insights borne of research.

Classic sitcoms like Taxi and Cheers sparked Credle and her team at BBDO to expand M&M's characters beyond the initial two, Red and Yellow, to six today. To redefine the idea of "magic" that Skittles represented for media-orientated teens in 2004, TBWA\ C\D drew from music videos by Spike Jonze. By then, Graf had left BBDO to run the creative department at TBWA\C\D in New York.

GRAF: They were doing Disney-like magic … then we showed them a bunch of videos by Spike Jonze with Christopher Walken flying around the hotel room. We showed them some Propellerheads videos, a lot of music videos of the way "magic" is being used today and the way kids are talking today. Another thing we told them was, "You've been doing the same campaign for 15 years. So, you're talking to a 13-year-old in 1989. A 13-year-old today is a completely different person. They're much more mature. They've been exposed to so much more stuff. They're marketing-savvy. It's like you have to change the way you're talking to people." And they let us eventually do that.

VITRONE: I don't remember it being a breeze or being terribly easy. That first round of Skittles didn't sail through by any means. We had to go back to them quite a few times and make a case for it.

REICHENTHAL: The first ad was that guy in a nest, a giant bird's nest. I think they were willing to separate their own opinions of it from the opinions of teenagers whom they were trying to reach. That was really important. We did do a lot of talking to teenagers all along, not just on Skittles but on Starburst, Combos and Snickers. We talked to consumers a lot. They were really good at listening to them.

VITRONE: [The previous Skittles ads] were pretty trippy … [but] kind of presented themselves as ads. One thing we were conscious of doing was taking them and making them feel everyday and, in a way, mundane. But still, all these [odd] things are happening. But it's not being presented like, "Oh wow, did you just see that?" kind of way. It's kind of matter of fact.

GRAF: We called it the Skittles world. … We told them they had their own Looney Tunes characters.

CREDLE: We thought of [the M&M's campaign] as a cast of characters and thought not about advertising but as a sitcom or as a troupe of characters that, if we play the right notes, would always have comedy somehow.

Their work redefined candy marketing, and with awards came notoriety and bigger jobs. Though years removed from Mars, Credle, Vitrone, Reichenthal and Graf still fondly recall their success for the client and acknowledge it got them where they are today.

CREDLE: I don't think many people in this business are lucky enough to be able to tell a story like [M&M's], to be a part of building not advertising but brands, stores and movies—a legacy every one of us who were involved in that in 1995 will have something to show for being in the business.

REICHENTHAL: They gave us the time to spend … on scripts and the time it took to find the casting that would really work well. We would cancel meetings and push back things. And it was all cool and understood because we all wanted the same thing in the end.

VITRONE: You were working on something that had a fair amount of scale behind it and people could actually see it. A lot of people in the industry have had experiences where they feel like they can only take risks, challenge conventions, on small brands, brands that don't pay them or pro bono accounts. And to be able to do that on a brand that's going to be put out there in a real way had a huge impact on our careers.

GRAF: They would let you work on packaging, they would let you work on distribution once they trusted you. The whole experience, my entire career, was gaining their trust and letting them know that I'm not screwing around. I'm really just trying to sell as much of this stuff as possible. … They pretty much made my career.

 For complete coverage of Cannes Lions 2012,
visit adweek.com/cannes.

It's come to this—girls swapping spit with tusked sea creatures in the suddenly bestial Skittles campaign from DDB Chicago. Walruses do make the occasional cameo in advertising; BBH's pat-a-cake spot for Vigorsol gum comes to mind. In the amusingly detailed Skittles spot, the walrus is presented as some sort of metaphor for Skittles Riddles, whose colors don't match their flavors. It's a little too much to chew on, but one thing's for sure—that beast's leathery, whiskered lips probably wouldn't taste much like fruit punch. Nice VFX by MPC.

Skittles's fascination with poorly functioning anatomy continues in this latest commercial from DDB Chicago, in which a man—who looks quite a bit like Abraham Lincoln—sweats Skittles as he runs on a treadmill. Meanwhile, a younger guy all but drives the guy to exhaustion, so he can collect the free candy. DDB, which took over the Skittles account from TBWA last year, has focused a lot on weird body stuff like this—one kid had Skittle pox, while another had the candies shooting out of his ears. This is, so to speak, in the brand DNA—the old TBWA spots included one with a man being milked like a cow; another with a guy who has a beard that moves on its own; and a third in which a boy has a Skittles tree growing out of his stomach. Check out 18 of the old spots here. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Skittles
Agency: DDB, Chicago
Ewan Paterson: Chief Creative Officer
Mark Gross: Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Director
Brad Morgan: Creative Director, Art Director
Bart Culberson: Creative Director, Copywriter
Will St. Clair: Vice President, Executive Producer
Diane Jackson: Executive Vice President, Director of Integrated Production
Jamie Gallant: Assistant Producer
Scott Terry: Production Manager
Production Company: Boxer Films
Director: Rodrigo Garcia Saiz

This week, we discovered that, yes, ordering Internet service can be easier than body-waxing Sasquatch, some people will eat candy that comes from another person's sweaty armpit, and how scary a drunk parent can seem to a child.

Many of the hundreds of TV commercials that air each day are just blips on the radar, having little impact on the psyche of the American consumer, who is constantly bombarded by advertising messages.

These aren't those commercials.

Adweek and AdFreak have brought together the most innovative and well-executed spots of the week, commercials that will make you laugh, smile, cry, think—and maybe buy.

Video Gallery: Top 10 Commercials, Sept. 14-21

I can make my own wacky Skittles holiday commercial on this Create the Rainbow site from BBDO Toronto and Jam3? Do I have to? Can't I just strangle myself with a string of festive lights instead? Users choose various characters, dialogue, settings and music and share the results with friends—who, if they have any self-respect, will hit delete before the "ad" comes to an end. I put scruffy slacker stereotype Travis and Funky Santa—a black guy in Claus garb who chuckles ominously and wishes everyone a "Happy Christmas, Kwanzaa or Hanukkah"—in an office hot tub filled with Skittles. Overall, the effort is kind of uninspired, and the DIY approach feels re-gifted from 2009. Where's that smoochin' walrus when you need him!? Way to waste the rainbow.

After years of weirdness and grotesquerie, Skittles has found its calling—breaking Grandma's knickknacks. This enjoyable interactive YouTube video from DDB Chicago features a young man who breaks a porcelain unicorn after it promises it will turn into Skittles if he does so. Naturally, the interactive part involves clicking on, and watching the guy break, a bunch of other stuff, including two frogs, two birds and a monkey. It's pretty fun, and I'm glad to see Skittles run those anarchic creative tendencies of theirs through some quality control. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Mars/Skittles
Agency: DDB, Chicago
Ewan Paterson: Chief Creative Officer
Mark Gross: ECD
Alex Zamiar: ACD/Art Director
Jonathan Richman: ACD/Copywriter
Will St. Clair: Exec. Producer
Jon Ellis: Exec. Digital Producer
Matt Green: Producer
Scott Terry: Production Manager
Director: Harold Einstein, Station Film
Editorial: Beast Editorial

Chrissy Teigen, whom you may remember from her Sports Illustrated and Maxim appearances, was surprised by a Skittles waterfall during a recent photo shoot that was actually an ad stunt by Olson. It's generally a faux pas to dump candy all over someone without telling them first, but Chrissy took it in stride. She may have even welcomed it as a break from what was essentially the same retro pin-up photo shoot (with the same retro one-piece) that every other twentysomething girl in the country has been doing recently. "Surprise the Rainbow" is still a potentially dangerous piece of advice, though.