Taste the Rhetoric: Discovering Style in Skittles© Ads
For a moment consider the commercials and other advertisements transmitted on televisions across the globe. Some of them are captivating and others are downright hilarious. We might even agree that the majority is straight rubbish, but have we ever stopped to consider that maybe all of this is part of the ploy? Commercials have become so extravagant they contain themselves like mini-cinema, but aside from all the bells and whistles the underlying point in advertising is always to sell the product. When a commercial is written the notions of good or bad style may be irrelevant as long as the advertisement makes an impression. The lasting impression is crucial because then the company is putting its foot in your door.
Recently I’ve begun to question what the term style means in regards to speaking and writing. We’ve all heard that one key to good style is clarity, but that could just mean another way to make sure your words are succinct and easily understood. Even though there are countless books on the rules of style the rules themselves, aside from those which are about grammar, can be more like guidelines instead of commandments etched in stone. Perhaps this would explain why there are so many instances of un-stylistic writing (practically thousands in the English language alone) which still maintain their capacity to convey a direct and proper meaning. There is a t.v. ad by Skittles © Candy Company called “Warp the Rainbow, Taste the Rainbow” that could be deemed un-stylistic in terms of clarity but has still maintained an outstanding impression upon me. The actions in the commercial up to the selling point of the ad are so outrages and perplexing it would seem the ad compensated clarity of style for complexity in order to leave a strong impression on the viewer. I intend to make good use of this ad to show that style is not only about clarity, but the effectiveness of the message as well.
Books on style and grammar have existed since the time of the rhetoricians in ancient Greece. Of the cannons in Rhetoric, style is known as the third canon and according to contemporary authors Crowley and Hawhee, “style can be distinguished from grammar, which is the study of the ordinary use of language”. (pg. 229) In rhetoric the study of style is that of the unusual uses for words and also the combination of arranging words unusually. It is interesting how style and grammar often become intertwined in modern books on writing. It may seem like such books are merely lumping together the two categories, but to the ancient rhetoricians it was more obvious how complementary the two opposites are. Borrowing from Eastern modes of thought; I like to construe style and grammar as yin and yang. The rhetoricians devoted an entire canon to style and Crowley and Hawhee have written a chapter in their book Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students to try and comprise the most able-bodied points about style. Some of which unearth fascinating depths on how communication is received and transmitted today.
According to Crowley and Hawhee the rhetoricians were concerned with clarity and correctness of speech, but the topic of style was more about appropriateness and ornamentation. (pg. 232) In terms of these two topics for ancient rhetoricians there are generally three levels for which style can be contained; grand, middle, and plain. I would consider Skittles’ commercial “Warp the Rainbow” to be of grand style based of its over bloated use of grandeur imagery and text to create complexity and abstraction. What could be more ornate about a man who eats his roommate’s skittles from an hourglass advertently causing the roommate to age rapidly? The very idea is counterintuitive to our grasp on reality and therefore a very unconvincing scene for the viewer to identify with. The very slogan itself “warp the rainbow, taste the rainbow” is so excessively abstract that no literal meaning can come from it. Even figuratively one might be puzzled in deriving a stable metaphorical meaning for the slogan. One thing that the viewer can affirm is that Skittles are highly sought after by the man in glasses thereby at least fulfilling the sell point amidst the confusion of the commercial’s other actions.
The Skittles ad is also wrought with ironic imagery and dialogue. Crowley and Hawhee note that irony is among the figures of thought (or sentia) that arouse emotion and is also a figure commonly used in advertisement. In the rhetoric sense arousing emotion equates to the inventiveness or quality of persuasion from a speaker. (pg.252) Irony can be considered very basic or highly complex, the basic level being that an audience understands the contrary of what was expressed. Looking at the main cause and effect of the Skittles’ commercial it would be that the ingestion of skittles speeds up time. Certainly this proves Skittles candies to be a very dangerous food which would make consumer’s very cautious. Skittles’ intention must be the exact opposite so as to incite the consumer to enjoy their candy. This basic level of irony is portrayed by Skittles very cryptically which puts into question its effectiveness at persuasion, but there is still more to consider.
Another trope among sentia that arouse emotion prevalent in the Skittles ad is the use of metaphor. A common attribute of both irony and metaphor is that with their use new knowledge is gained. This would prove to be most beneficial for ads on television, but it can also be distracting when cast in certain ways. Humor, for instance can often overshadow the meaning of a message only persuading the viewer to note the comedy and not the actual ad. Perhaps that is the case with the commercial and its hourglass metaphor. On the surface what viewers learn is quite contrary to the main point of selling the product, that when eaten Skittles have the capacity to diminish life rather than help sustain it through nourishment. As a metaphor the Skittles’ slogan itself is open to interpretation and such open-endedness does not help the viewer to learn something about the product.
While the context of the metaphor may be remiss due to its open-endedness its actual prose follows what ancient rhetoricians like Aristotle suggested in terms of metaphor use. Aristotle believed that metaphors should be taken from two main sources: those that appealed to beauty and those appealing to the human senses. (pg. 260) Skittle’s “taste the rainbow” adheres to both concepts in that it is asking the audience to experience the taste of something that most people find visually stunning, or beautiful to look at. In this context the audience can identify more with the point of the metaphor.
As a metaphor the Skittles’ slogan is an effective way to incite consumer’s to buy their candy, even though their ad which I have analyzed according to ancient rhetoric figures and terms seems to ultimately falter in style. The commercial is to complex and abstract for the audience to hold on to any semblance of a message, and its ornament and arrangement of scenes (and slogan) is too hard to follow, or comprehend. Therefore its lasting impression is that of curiosity and not strong conviction about the candy. While it may be clear that the ad is about Skittles candies, its use of irony and metaphor does little to persuade the audience in favor of the product. Therefore in spite of its grand style the commercial’s actual message flies right over the heads of its viewers.
So, of all the catacombs on style and its appropriate use two fundamental concepts have been made apparent by their lack in the Skittles’ ad. One concept is clarity, but the other is its compliment; persuasion. Without effective persuasion an audience cannot cohesively identify with the message or point of view for a text, or scene, or speech. Just like in advertising, clarity and persuasion are necessary attributes for effective style.
Bibliography
Crowley, Sharon and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students.
Second Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.
