Yellow Is the Least Popular Skittles Color (According to Skittles)

Back in the '80s, M&M's ran a memorable TV commercial where different colors of M&M's equated to different baseball hits: Brown ones were for singles, yellows for doubles, oranges for triples, and—oh boy—greens for home runs. Giving different colors different attributes was a savvy marketing move because all M&M's taste the same: They're all chocolate on the inside. Disliking one of the candies due to its color is just straight M&M discrimination. Skittles, on the other hand, has the opposite problem: The brand's five-flavor rainbow of colors all taste different, meaning having a preference for one hue over another completely understandable.

So to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Skittles' "Taste the Rainbow" tagline, the brand decided to figure out once and for all which Skittles flavors are people's most and least favorites. On Skittles behalf, the independent, third-party research firm Kelton Global conducted an online survey of 2,000 U.S. adults who had eaten Skittles in the past three months. The results: The red—aka strawberry—Skittle was deemed the most loved flavor with 33 percent of respondents choosing it their favorite.

So which flavor isn't pulling its weight in the pack? It turns out yellow—A.K.A. lemon—is actually at the bottom of the list. Only six percent of those polled said yellow was their favorite flavor. Keep in mind, since only five flavors exists, randomly choosing a favorite color would yield a 20 percent selection rate. So, yeah, 6 percent is pretty bad. That said, it's also important to remember that the question asked which flavor was people's favorite not which one they disliked the most. It's possible that people are simply ambivalent to yellow Skittles, but wouldn't necessarily throw them under the bus if asked which flavor they hate the most.

Still, with yellow fairing so poorly, you have to wonder about its future. Skittles infamously axed lime Skittles in 2013, switching the green ones to green apple instead, only occasionally bringing lime back as a promotional parlor trick. Could the same thing happen to lemon Skittles? "The Rainbow wouldn't be complete without lemon!" a Skittles spokesperson told me via email "Every flavor is essential to The Five Fruity Flavors in the Originals mix, and although lemon may not be everyone's go-to flavor, we have no plans to change our Originals mix." Tell that to lime, I guess!

Meanwhile, Skittles suggested if you don't like yellow/lemon, maybe try getting creative: "Have you ever tried a Lemon/Strawberry flavor combination?" the spokesperson said. "Delicious!" Uh, no, Skittles. I can't just sit around all day trying new Skittles combinations. I have a job! A job writing about Skittles!