Skittles Gives YouTube the Finger

Interactivity on YouTube is nothing new. It’s something we’ve covered here at Tubefilter a lot. Content creators use the site’s annotation tools to create compelling Choose Your Own Adventure style stories. Brands design YouTube pages with clever ways for viewers to engage with more than a play button.

But what is new is an advertiser asking for your tactile participation. (It’s not new to Ze Frank has, of course, but it’s new to advertisers.)

Skittles wants you to give YouTube the finger. Literally. The rainbow-colored, fruit-flavored candy just launched a series of videos in which you’re asked to lend a digit, place said digit on a specified location on the screen of whatever device you’re using to watch the videos, and then watch the pivotal role that digit plays as the action unfolds. Pretty clever. Here it is in action:

If you think the interactive advertisements look slick, that’s because the guy that filmed them is a helluva talent with the resume to prove it. Tom Kuntz – the director of those Old Spice commercials that other brands wish their commercials should be like, as well as a set of Skittles TV ads and what appear to be NSFW spec spots for the AVN Awards – seems to be the latest it director for things original, irreverent, and good-looking.

Kuntz’s five Skittles Touch the Rainbow videos debuted on March 28. So far, they’ve left over 230,000 fingerprint marks on computer screens.