Marketing in the News: Skittles Lawsuit

 

The popular candy Skittles has been under a lot of stress dealing with lawsuits and FDA concerns. This popular candy was first introduced in 1974 in Great Britain and wasn't produced in the United States until 1982. Skittles are colorful bright candies marketed for their sweet and savory flavors. I personally am a big fan of Skittles and have always liked them ever since I was a kid. Due to recent news and reading about the lawsuit, I'm not so sure I like them anymore. 

So the real question is, What is this Skittles lawsuit? 

recently a California resident has decided to sue the company for its usage of titanium dioxide in their product. in the recent years titanium dioxide has been found to form cancer in rats. The lawsuit claims that this ingredient can pass through biological membranes, circulate through the body and enter cells. This discovery has lead to this ingredient being banned in the European Union, but not in the United States.

Here's a random question, Have you ever let Skittles sit in your mouth long enough for the food coloring to wear off? If you have then you would notice that the Skittles turn white, this color of the hard shell contains titanium dioxide which is intended to make that food coloring more vibrant. 

Along with the lawsuit and the ban in the European Union, The FDA has had some concerns with this product but have yet to take action. The FDA  maintains that titanium dioxide is safe for human consumption, but could this change in the future?

This article goes into more depth about the lawsuit and the FDA concerns. As a consumer of this product I have lost all interest in eating Skittles and I bet that I am not alone. Nobody wants to eat a candy that has the chance of giving you cancer. This is very poor marketing for Skittles and the company hasn't released a statement addressing the issues. For the most part they haven't made any effort to change the product or address the concerns that consumers are having, this is very poor crisis management. 

Skittles value proposition is counter productive due to this speed bump. I would say road block but there is still hope for this company to recover from this backlash. The image of having your candy cause serious health problems brings down their value to consumers. Because of this loss, customers are turning to their competitors products. 

I believe that this is very bad for Skittles and the way they are dealing with it is very poor. If I was in their position I would immediately remove that ingredient and find a healthier less controversial substitute. After that I would release a statement saying that it has been removed and that we would like to apologies to our loyal fans. I would then launch an event or campaign that would be relevant in society that people would appreciate or enjoy, maybe donate some of our profits to charitable organizations.

What I have learned from this article is that you typically want to have some crisis management when bad news comes out about your product. On the flipside, some of these major corporations that have highly successful products like Skittles might not care as much about these stories. Skittles don't seem to mind this backlash and wont do anything until the FDA takes action against their product. In terms of this class action suit, I am 1000% confident that It wont reach court and will be settled by giving this resident a lump sum of money. I have learned a lot from reading this article and with external research. These little speed bumps may drastically effect small businesses but with major corporations, they don't seem to effect them much.