We all know and love Skittles as they have been a firm favourite with kids and adults alike for years. Believe it or not they were first manufactured nearly 40 years ago in 1974 and since then they have constantly been updated and marketed so that they would remain colourful and attractive to sweet toothed shoppers.

Unsurprisingly, Skittles were originally loosely based around the familiar M&M chocolate candy sweets, the main difference being the soft fruity centre as opposed to the chocolate centre. The other clear difference was the Skittles 's' on the outer shell whereas the 'M&M' logo could be found on their chocolate cousins. Skittles were first manufactured and marketed in England and it was only after their success became more widespread that production started in the United States. Skittles are currently owned by the Mars Corporation, which is one of the largest sweet and candy manufacturers in the world today alongside other large sweet makers such as Haribo.

The range of Skittles products that can be bought today is much wider than their original incarnation, with Skittles bubblegum being a good example having been introduced in 2004. The range of flavours available is also much greater than the original selection of grape, lemon, lime, orange and strawberry. Newer varieties include tropical and smoothie flavours such as mango, peach, pear and orange.

It is easy to see why Skittles appeal to children so much - not only are they juicy but their size and attractive colours makes them irresistable. We have all had moments after prolonged perious of chewing Skittles where we have found that our tongue has suddenly become 'rainbow coloured'.

This chewy centre is made up of sugar (unsurprisingly) as well as other ingredients such as citric acid, fruit juice, hydrogenated vegetable oil and various natural and artificial flavourings. Once the chewy centre has been made it is then covered in the sugar coating, a process which is referred to as panning. The shells are then polished and blended with the Skittles 's' logo being printed in the middle. Several dozen of the sweets are then packaged where they are ready to be sold. Skittles are obviously popular with children but they are still popular with adults who have fond memories of eating them when they were younger.

Skittles are synonymous with the strapline, "taste the rainbow". They used to be well known for their creative and fun television and print advertising as a means of marketing the sweets, however with the internet revolution they have turned to social media sites such as facebook and twitter in order to promote the product through their own website. Skittles even went as far as to turn their entire website into a Twitter feed which incorporated Tweets that contained any mentions of 'Skittles'. This creative means of advertising unfortunately backfired as people hijacked the Twitter feed for their own means.

Regardless of these marketing hiccups, Skittles remain one of the most recognisable brands in the world and their success is sure to continue.