Skittles have become the unlikely focus of a race row after Twitter users objected to white versions of the sweets being sold to mark Pride month.

Skittles are usually colourful, but the makers, Mars, says it is selling the blank version in the UK to send out the message that 'during Pride, only one rainbow matters' - meaning the LGBT rainbow.

But several Twitter users suggested that choosing the colour 'white' for the neutral Skittles was racist.

Skittles have turned white for the month of June to celebrate LGBT Pride month. Even the famous rainbow packaging has turned white and black (pictured)

Podcaster Tora Sjae started the debate on Twitter as she argued that the colour white doesn't represent equality due to the history of abuse of BAME people

Podcaster Tora Shae started the debate by arguing that the colour white has never represented 'equality', which is celebrated during the month of Pride.

She tweeted: 'Why should whiteness mean equality?! That's the f***ing problem!

'We will never have nor want whiteness!!'

She was retweeted by dozens of people, with other commentators agreeing that the new look was racist because it 'normalised whiteness'.

Supermarkets including Tesco are donating 2p per pack of the white Skittles to LGBT charities

A handful on Twitter supported the claims that the white Skittles were racist

But her argument was only backed by a few supporters.

As the tweet quickly went viral, racking up thousands of replies, users shot her down by reminding her that she was talking about sweets, not people.

Many were baffled as to how anyone could turn a conversation about sweets into a race debate.

Hundreds if not thousands of people were tweeting to say that the Skittles could not be racist because they are just sweets

Others mocked her argument, with one saying that her dad was offended by the new sweets because he's 'colour blind - and that they look like ibruprofen'.

The sweets are being sold in supermarkets to mark LGBT Pride month for the whole of June. It is the second time Mars has released the blank version of sweets for the occasion.

A spokesman for Mars UK said: 'The rainbow flag is the symbol of Pride, but the rainbow is also synonymous with Skittles.

'So to show our support Skittles has again given up its rainbow colours in order for Pride’s rainbow to take centre stage at the Pride in London parade. Any suggestion that this support for Pride is in anyway racist is clearly wrong.'