Talk:Skittles (confectionery)

Is this article a stub?

I think we can say safely at this point that it is not. Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 05:53, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

While I was a COOL soldier in the U.S. Army deployed in Afghanistan from 2002 thru 2003 I ate so many skitlles that I swore I would never touch them again because it seemed like every snack in every MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) was a pack of Skittles. I am now sitting at home munching on a large bag of Skittles and decided to look at the article on Wiki; I'm surpirsed that there is no mention of Skittles being in U.S. MRE's in the article as they seem to be the main treat in the MRE (neck and neck maybe with M&M's). The war/s seem to have introduced many of the world's kids to Skittles as we soldiers always shared or flat out gave away our skittles to the local kids and friendly adults. If I can find a reference I am thinking of adding a mention of this to the main article if that sounds good to everyone else.

Hmm. You had to call yourself COOL, huh? I agree. Everyone else was HOT. ;)

In the US, I remember about two years ago they replaced lime with green apple. I'm eating a package now where the strawberry ones are replaced with 'ice cream flavor,' which I think is just strawberry with less red dye. I don't know the dates. Anyone know?

You typed "flavour" in one sentence, then "flavor" in another. Please edit.

I know this article was made a while ago, but they've made some new flavours such as Tart n' Tangy, Crazy Cores, Sours, Crazy Sours, Smoothie Mix, Ice Cream Treats, Carnival, Skittles Unlimited, Double Sour, Extreme Fruit Gum, Mint, Skittles Mints, Extra Chewy Mints, Chocolate, Chocolate Mix, Liquorice, Citrus, Fresh Mint, Sensations, Fizzl'd Fruits, Blenders, Riddles. Please update!

Why not make it more understandable and call it candy? Z!t!@n«T@1k» 02:17, 8 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

I'm confounded Z!t!@n«T@1k» 02:17, 8 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Skittles were actually introduced before what Wrigley claimed on their website at one point. The earliest sources that I could find for Skittles would be the fall of 1971. In fact newspapers in the US seemed to have had them before British ones. 2600:100C:A20C:6C0F:3594:36BB:5E73:C1A9 (talk) 11:58, 22 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/599560418/ 2600:100C:A20C:6C0F:3594:36BB:5E73:C1A9 (talk) 12:08, 22 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

The name Skittles was actually patented in the US in 1974 after their first use over 3 years prior.

https://books.google.com/books?id=PYZeHOZVeoYC&pg=PA1828-IA77&dq=skittles+candy+1971&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtwPjZzrqHAxXsKkQIHV2vC-cQ6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=skittles%20candy%201971&f= 2600:100C:A20C:6C0F:3594:36BB:5E73:C1A9 (talk) 12:10, 22 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

And this source seems to mention Skittles amongst the candies imported from the U.K. from Mars’ British line.

https://books.google.com/books?id=NcpaAAAAYAAJ&q=Candies+,+Inc.+,+which+markets+Mars+imports+here+1971&dq=Candies+,+Inc.+,+which+markets+Mars+imports+here+1971&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjgsdeE0bqHAxVfLtAFHT7WDxIQ6AF6BAgHEAM#Candies%20,%20Inc.%20,%20which%20markets%20Mars%20imports%20here%201971 2600:100C:A20C:6C0F:3594:36BB:5E73:C1A9 (talk) 12:21, 22 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

The newspaper advert can be used as a source for 1971, and it trumps anything Mars says on its official website. It's probably about time this was cleaned up. I can't properly see the source material about Skittles being imported from the UK, but they were not sold in the UK until the 80s. I'm certain Skittles were invented in the US. The long-standing statement in the article about Skittles first being imported in 1979 has never specified where they were supposedly imported from, but it was assuredly not the UK. Bretonbanquet (talk) 21:59, 22 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

The company Mars used for importing was British 2600:100C:A20C:6C0F:C4D9:7696:438:978A (talk) 00:59, 23 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

Also there are British ads for Skittles from the 70s 2600:100C:A20C:6C0F:C4D9:7696:438:978A (talk) 01:00, 23 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

I think ’74 is when Skittles became widely distributed as I could only find a few newspapers mentioning Skittles from ‘71-‘73. 2600:100C:A20C:6C0F:C4D9:7696:438:978A (talk) 01:02, 23 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

Can you provide links to British ads for Skittles in the 70s? Thanks, Bretonbanquet (talk) 20:54, 23 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

Jacks Candies was a US company distributing confectionery imported from the UK, as I understand it. Bretonbanquet (talk) 20:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

It is possible that the British sweets "Glees", which date from the 60s, were imported to the US by Jacks Candies and repackaged as Skittles, but I don't believe they were sold as Skittles in the UK. However, I've never seen any cast iron evidence that the first Skittles were repackaged Glees. Bretonbanquet (talk) 21:05, 23 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

Should we mention the phrase "got the skittles kicked out of me"? Originated in the 1999 Inspector Gadget film due to it using Skittles as a product placement. Visokor (talk) 16:53, 21 August 2024 (UTC)Reply