With literally the entire world watching, one of the more underrated candy brands is pulling off what may prove to be the most significant brand awareness campaign of the year. I’m speaking of course of Skittles.

With bombs raining down on Iraq, with American troops pressing ever closer to the centre of Baghdad, one the most enduring images of this Gulf War is that of Iraqi children, freshly liberated, smiling, having just been handed bags of Skittles. This kind of imagery has been emerging from Iraq almost from the moment British and U.S. forces began the invasion to topple the government of Saddam Hussein.

First it came with a line from an embedded CNN correspondent, almost a curious aside, about soldiers throwing their food rations and bags of Skittles to Iraqi children in the south who had run out to the main road to cheer U.S. forces. The Skittles, you see, were included in military rations. Then came a shot on the cover of The New York Times and The Globe and Mail, March 26, of U.S. Marines sheltering themselves in the back of an army truck from severe sandstorms that slowed troop advances. The news was about the sandstorm, but one of the soldiers – the one front and centre – is clutching a bag of Skittles.

The next day, The Washington Post ran a story under the headline ‘Relief comes in a bag of Skittles.’ Accompanying art included a group of children catching bags of the candy as a troop transport rolls by. Another shot was of young boys enjoying the candy treats. Happy as can be: freed from tyranny and enjoying some sugary goodness too. By early April, even The Wall Street Journal was on the Skittles bandwagon with a story about how troops short on cigarettes are trading bags of the candy for smokes.

Mars Inc., the maker of Skittles, could not have imagined this level of exposure. Or maybe, it could. Certainly, a historian of war and brand impact might have been able to provide a clue. Marlboro pulled the same feat during World War II, with millions of soldiers – young men just entering manhood and smoking age – getting turned on to the brand, which was included in assault packs. For years, indeed generations, Americans swore by their Marlboros, their first smoke; their solace in a time of duress.

Now, again, a brand is emerging from the war as hero. Not in the way an agency creative director might demand, ‘The brand has to be the hero of this spot,’ but as a bona fide hero: respite in crisis to soldier and civilian alike.

With that comes an emotional response from those of us at home, sitting in our kitchens, wondering what this horror unfolding in Iraq could be like and finding some comfort in the fact that this kid, whose parents may be injured or dead, can at least enjoy a small treat in this terrible time.

It is the kind of emotion that is nearly impossible to elicit through traditional media.