It’s okay if you need to blink a few times while reading that headline. On Thursday, Skittles began to trend on Twitter as the furry fandom debated the possibility of the candy having its own fursona.
No, we’re not joking; the company posted on Twitter asking about having a fox/bunny hybrid named Cheryl drawn for them and even suggested having an art contest. Some furries laughed off the idea, others wanted the corporate entity to steer clear of the community.
Now, it looks like the company may have bitten off more than they can chew as determined furries have come together to create an art contest that’s sure to scare away Skittles’ interests in somehow monetizing the fandom for their own ends.
Back in 2017, a furry that now goes by the name Boozy Badger online stumbled into the fandom after making a post on their blog, Lawyers and Liquor, about a cease and desist letter sent to another prominent furry about a canceled convention. So people came together to draw him a fursona, and he’s been a staple in the fandom ever since.
There’s no way when he became the fuzzy badger he’s known as today that he ever could have imagined making a post about a Rule 34, the maxim that if it exists, there’s porn for it, art contest that could go so far.
The post ended up inspiring a real contest ran by the barrister badger that has now pledged $10,205 to the charity of the winner’s choice. The contest winner will also bring home a hefty prize purse of $474.69 to spend on whatever they would like as well. The contest has over forty entries and is accepting votes on Twitter to determine the ultimate winner of the enormous prize.
The contest was so popular that it made Skittles trend on Twitter again Friday as people within and outside the fandom discussed just how massive it had become. While some may say no publicity is bad publicity, we can only imagine what the social media team for the rainbow candy is thinking right now.
But hey, at least the furry fandom has once more raised a ton of money for charity, either way, right?