Right-wingers are just now calling for a ban on Skittles after finding out they promoted LGBTQ+ artists during Pride.
Skittles has always been pro-LGBTQ+. After all, their slogan is, "Taste the rainbow," reflecting their famous multi-colored fruit-flavored candies.
However, since 2017, the candy brand has supported the queer community by featuring colorless bags of Skittles during gay Pride as an act of solidarity, emphasizing that "only one rainbow matters."
This year from May through mid-July, Skittles introduced the gray-colored candies once again and featured limited-edition packaging designs by five different LGBTQ+ artists.
The five artists contributing individual designs are Shanée Benjamin, Mady G, Symone Salib, Bianca Xunise, and Zipeng Zhu.
Here is an Instagram post highlighting Skittles' pro-LGBTQ+ campaign.
For every "Pride pack" sold, the company will donate $1 to GLAAD, the non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ+ advocacy and cultural change.
But conservatives who are just catching on to the candy's promotion of positivity are having none of that.
The homophobic contingent added Skittles to their growing list of companies that have either promoted Pride campaigns or partnerships with LGBTQ+ people, like Bud Light, Walmart, and Target.
Anti-trans advocate and British influencer Oli London griped on X (formerly Twitter) about Skittles promoting queer artists.
London, who is a White influencer, previously incurred backlash after identifying as "transracial" and claiming to have had 32 surgeries to look like Korean boyband member Jimin from BTS.
"Skittles is raising money with each sale of their new ‘Pride it Forward’ kids candies for notorious LGBTQI+ lobby group GLAAD," he wrote, adding:
"The organization is one of the leading and most powerful LGBT groups pushing for medical transitions on children."
In 2022, London announced plans to stop undergoing plastic surgeries and claimed he had converted to Christianity, which subsequently led him to publicly criticize gender ideology, particularly as presented to minors, and to speak out against "woke" culture.
Recently, he said he was detransitioning from identifying as a Korean woman to a British businessman.
With his post slamming Skittles, London stoked fear among conservative consumers.
Anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Libs of TikTok also complained:
"Skittles is trying to turn your kids into BLM & LGBTQ+ activists."
"This packaging also features a drag queen. Skittles have gone completely woke."
The post included a picture of a bag of Skittles featuring a rainbow along with the inspirational phrase:
"Black trans lives matter."
@libsoftiktok/X
The group's followers joined in the boycott.
Xunise shared their excitement over being featured on Skittles packaging.
They wrote in an Instagram post:
"It’s been so hard to keep this one a secret but I’m so stoked that I can FINALLY tell y’all I’ve teamed up with @SKITTLES for Pride this year and designed my very own SKITTLES Pride Pack."
"Each Pride Pack illustration celebrates queer stories. When coming up with a design you know I had to highlight the joyful resistance of the punk community."
Xunise also shared encouraging words for members of the community who are denigrated for their identity and feeling othered.
“Don’t let anybody tell you that you don’t deserve to be here,” they said.
“Don’t let the oppression tell you that you don’t belong.”
