Stuart Elliott: Skittles and Tic Tac -- Trump’s Tasteless Candy Comments

First it was Skittles when Donald Trump Jr compared Syrian refugees to a bowl of the colorful candies sprinkled with pieces that quotwould kill youquotSkittles owned by the mighty Mars confectionery responded with a forthright statement pushing back against the junior Trump quotSkittles are candy Refugees are people We don39t feel it39s an appropriate analogyquotThen it was Tic Tac mints39 turn in the barrel when on the nownotorious hot mic tape Donald Trump said he39d quotbetter use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissingquot an actress Arianne Zucker waiting to tape a segment of quotDays of Our Livesquot with him I swear I can hear the Tic Tacs rattling in their plastic package each time I see the tape The remark set off a Trump train of thought that ended with him explaining how quotwhen you39re a starquot you quotcan do anythingquot including grabbing women by their private partsThat generated a reaction described thusly by a political blog Daily Kos quotThings we never thought we39d say a second candy has come forward to disavow Donald Trumpquot The official Twitter account of Tic Tac USA part of the Italian candy firm Ferrero posted this disapproving statement quotTic Tac respects all women We find the recent statements and behavior completely inappropriate and unacceptablequotThe statement didn39t prevent quipsters from having fun On Saturday Night Live Colin Jost lent his comedic support to Tic Tac explaining that the brand quotshould support womenquot because thanks to Trump now if quotyou39re a woman and hear Tic Tacs shaking in someone39s pocket it39s like hearing the Jaws themequot Other wags brought up the Tic Tac jingle from the 1970s that began quotPut a Tic Tac in your mouth and get a bang out of lifequot And Kurt Eichenwald the journalist who has been writing so many revealing antiTrump articles for Newsweek offered this cheeky comment on Twitter quotTrump has lost both the Tic Tac vote and the Skittles vote Boy does he need a LifeSaver right nowquotIt39s interesting how the candy brands got tangled up in the campaign when others seem to have dodged some bullets For instance the bus in which Trump was riding when he made his lewd remarks was emblazoned with large Verizon Wireless logos that are readily visible to viewers of the leaked tape but there39s been little buzz about that in social media The bus was part of a promotion in 2005 between the brand and Access Hollywood called the Verizon Wireless Access Across America Tour information about the promotion is still onlineMaybe the changes between then and now Verizon Wireless is now Verizon and uses a different logo have kept Verizon from becoming singled out for attention Or maybe candy resonates in the context of the election in a way that other products don39tFor one thing there39s the striking contrast between an innocuous muchloved item like candy and the flaming Dumpster that the 2016 campaign has turned into Candy also has a female or feminine connotation from the Four Seasons song quotCandy Girlquot to the tasty treat that is pink cotton candy When Howard Kurtz discussed the Trump tape on Sunday on his Fox News Media Buzz show he wondered whether it was right to quotpile on the media for chasing the cotton candyquotThere39s no doubt we live in a world awash in brands and as a result it39s inevitable that everyday products are going to get caught up in major national events Those with long memories can recall for example how CocaCola became part of the conversation during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearingsThere39s another brand that39s also intimately involved in the presidential race the Trump brand With Trump39s business interests now primarily limited to licensing deals that seek to make money through the use of his name what impact will the tape and other controversies have on the value of his brand It39s a significant worry for Trump given that so many of his hotels resorts and golf courses are marketed to the collegeeducated whitecollar consumers who according to polls are abandoning himIndeed a survey released this week by Brand Keys a consultancy in New York that specializes in brand engagement and customer loyalty research found that disclosure of the video has significantly eroded the power of the Trump brand resulting in dramatically diminished added value for his nameThere39s a worrying precedent for Trump The damage done to the Helmsley brand by the tax and legal woes of the real estate mogul Leona Helmsley especially after a former housekeeper testified at a trial that Helmsley had once told her quotOnly the little people pay taxesquotAnd when it comes to the presidential race it39s not only big brands that are getting into the act The sportswriter Jason Gay posted a photo on Twitter showing a sign on the sidewalk outside a neighborhood liquor store reading quotDebate Night Make Mine a DoublequotWell as the humorist Ogden Nash once offered quotCandy is dandy But liquor is quickerquotThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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Stuart Elliott: Skittles and Tic Tac -- Trump’s Tasteless Candy Comments

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Stuart Elliott: Skittles and Tic Tac -- Trump’s Tasteless Candy Comments

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