Publicity Stunt

I'm not sure how I learned of the Frenchs Mustard-Skittles event, but when I did? I knew that our yellow-mustard-loving niece, Annabelle, was the target audience. 

Billed as a promotion for National Mustard Day on August 5th, Skittles and Frenchs chose three east coast cities to give away their bright yellow, limited edition mustard-flavored candies the week before the big day, August 5th. Those cities? Atlanta, Annabelle's home, DC, where many of her extended family live, and NYC, where she was born.

Unfortunately, we were leaving Atlanta the day before they were going to give away the special Skittles at Ponce City Market, right around the corner from my sister's house. Not to worry, though, Heidi and I headed downtown at 11 AM this morning for the 11-3 giveaway here in DC. Not gonna lie, the line stretching all the way around the block,  was daunting when we first drove by. And it took a minute for us to find parking, but when we did? We booked it the two and a half blocks to City Center Square to secure our place in line.

As we waited we admired the brightly painted vintage VW van and watched as those ahead of us tossed red and yellow bean bags at a target board for swag. The day was beautiful, too, low 80s with those big puffy clouds sailing through deep blue skies, and the mood of our fellow waiters was jolly. The guy behind us looked up the going price on eBay for the tiny bag of candy we were hoping to receive, and gleefully reported that there were several bidders above 50 bucks on the auctions he found.

It was fun to people watch-- notably the family of seven all dressed in mustard color t-shirts, but also the regular crowd of folks who might be there to shop at Tiffany and Gucci. About 30 minutes in, there was a rumble of disappointment, even as a celebrity chef arrived, posing for pictures with those a little farther ahead in line. A young woman with a bright yellow t-shirt and a sympathetic expression on her face began working the line to break the news that, according to their calculations, we wouldn't get any Skittles. Our consolation was a QR code that we could use to enter a drawing to win what we had already shown up to get.

Oh, the line held on for another 25-20 minutes, until the organizers announced that they were out of everything. Still a little loathe to lose our place in the line we had waited in for so long, we lingered, even as a couple in expensive suits walked by, loudly proclaiming how delicious the sweet and sour little yellow spheres were to all of us who would likely never know.