If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—a tough lesson that Skittles learned in 2013.
Skittles introduced its five fruity, rainbow-colored flavors in 1979, filling their red foil packages with strawberry, orange, lemon, lime, and strawberry bite-sized candies. Thirty-two years later, the company decided to banish lime in favor of green apple, sparking an uproar in their fan base.
Loyal lime-lovers took to Twitter to vocalize their broken hearts, uniting under the hashtag #bringbacklime. In addition to the more than 130,000 mentions on social media, 6,700 grieving consumers signed an online petition to “do away with this Green Apple bullsh*t and bring…[their] darling lime back.”
These outcries worked. After a not-so-quiet leave of absence for eight years, “the original lime-up” is back in all its original glory.
Green apple skittles repeat the failure of Coca-Cola’s “New Coke.” For the Gen-Z audience who may not even know what I am talking about, Coca-Cola also learned (the hard way) not to fix what isn’t broken.
In the 1980s, as Coca-Cola’s market share decreased and Pepsi rose in the ranks, company executives began to blame their soda formula. Their solution was to discontinue the 99-year-old classic Coca-Cola recipe in favor of an entirely new flavor.
On the day of the announcement, Coca-Cola President Donald Keough boldly claimed, “I’ve never been as confident about a decision as I am about the one we’re announcing today.”
Well, he should not have been so confident.
The soda fell flat among consumers, and the backlash bubbled. Coca-Cola had to field thousands of angry calls a day, all while watching their stock prices plummet. How could the marketing department have failed so miserably? Though they performed more than 190,000 blind taste tests, the company failed to account for the emotional attachment consumers held to the original flavor. Moreover, they neglected to ask subjects how they would feel if the original Coca-Cola disappeared from the shelves.
Skittles didn’t make quite the same blunder as Coca-Cola. They did the appropriate research. The company decided to nix lime after market research revealed that sour apple tested higher among consumers, outperforming its lime counterpart during taste tests.
Regardless, Skittles parent company Mars Wrigley had to give back what the vociferous consumers wanted. They announced in a press release in September 2021 that their “infamous lime-flavored candies are returning to the rainbow permanently.” Admitting defeat, Brand Manager Fernando Rodrigues stated: “Green Apple has had a good run, but the fans have spoken and it’s time for Lime to return to the rainbow… The joy of Lime can’t be denied anymore.”
The restored rainbow will return to the shelves in October, just in time for trick-or-treaters to fill their pillowcases with 1.8 oz single packs sealing the flavor of the rainbow that has long been missing.