skills/creative-director/references/legendary-campaigns/cards/skittles-cat-lick-2013.md

---
id: skittles-cat-lick-2013
title: "Cat Lick"
brand: Skittles
agency: DDB Chicago
year: 2013
country: US
region: north_america
industry: cpg
pattern: [P11]
category: film
idea_type: execution
involvement: passive_view
channel: physical
duration: campaign
goal: [awareness, engagement]
budget: medium
emotion: [ironic, disgusted, surprised]
emotion_tier: 1
insight_domain: joy
media_epoch: social
awards: [unknown]
quality_score: 6
scalability: universal
risk: edgy
confidence: medium
quality: full
source_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFF23mvC0oI
---

# Cat Lick (Skittles · 2013)

## Insight
Skittles has no rational brand narrative — its territory is pure sensory absurdism. The brand's permission to be inexplicably weird means any bizarre juxtaposition involving Skittles and desire reads as on-brand.

## Mechanic
A man lets a cat lick Skittles directly from his hand — extended, escalating, increasingly uncomfortable. No explanation offered. Pure deadpan execution of an inherently weird premise. The Skittles "Touch the Rainbow" absurdist universe extended into a new corner.

## Why it worked
Within the Skittles brand universe, the weird is the brand voice. The ad succeeded because it committed to its single absurd premise without apologising or explaining. Skittles viewers have been trained to expect the inexplicable — this delivered on that contract.

## Steal
Brand absurdism only compounds if each execution stays within the established universe of weirdness. The cat lick works because Skittles audiences already have a contract with the inexplicable. New brands cannot import this tone without earning it first.

## Related
- Pattern: [[../MOC-pattern.md#p11]]
- Sibling: [[metro-trains-dumb-ways-to-die-2012.md|Dumb Ways to Die]]
- Sibling: [[old-spice-man-your-man-could-smell-like-2010.md|The Man Your Man Could Smell Like]]

---

*Author: Serge Shima ([t.me/aimastersme](https://t.me/aimastersme) · [sergeshima.com](https://sergeshima.com) · [aimasters.me](https://aimasters.me)) · License: CC BY 4.0 — attribution required · Source: [smixs/creative-director-skill](https://github.com/smixs/creative-director-skill)*