I know I’m not the first person to say this, but I love the Snuggie commercial more than chocolate. More than Law & Order marathons. More than dreams.
You know Snuggie, right? The official “blanket with sleeves?” If so, then I know you’ll join me in what follows. If not, then get ready. After the jump, I’m going to celebrate the greatest commercial currently on TV.
Here it is:
When I first asked myself why I like this commerical, I said, “Because it’s ludicrous.” But then I thought… what does that mean? How is it ludicrous?
And then I realized: This ad is ludicrous—and therefore hilarious—because it’s earnest about two completely ridiculous things.
(1) The Snuggie commercial declares war on blankets
Most commercials try convince us the products they’re hawking are the solutions to problems. Proactiv solves your acne problem. Coke quenches your thirst attack. Lexus cures your luxury deficiency.
Using that premise, the Snuggie commercial insists it’s solving our blanket dilemma. To be swayed by its pitch, you have to accept that millions of people are sick and damn tired of the blanket, but they’ve been helpless to do anything about it… until now.
But have you ever heard anyone cursing the blanket? Maybe a specific afghan, sure, but the blanket in general? Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been sitting on the couch on a winter’s night and felt betrayed by my quilt because it wouldn’t cover my arms while I reached for the bowl of popcorn on my lap.
To appreciate how ridiculous this ad’s opening scenes are, imagine them taken to their extreme. Imagine that we hear ominous music, and a stern announcer’s voice says, “Blankets. They’re happening to you. They’re happening to your children.” And then we see a group of wholesome kids sitting in a living room watching TV. There’s a phone on a nearby table, and it starts to ring. One by one, the children try to get up and answer it, but they are always thwarted by their evil blankets. They get tangled, they yelp, they fall, perhaps in slow-motion. By the end, the ringing phone has become deafeningly loud, and we see a writhing mass of blanket-covered young bodies, screaming in agony, pitifully reaching for the handset.
It may be lighter in tone, but this commercial suggests this “blanket crisis” is perfectly real and that we should buy a Snuggie to stop it.
(2) The Snuggie commercial suggests no one will mind looking that way.
As it pushes the horror of blankets, the commercial also implies that no one will question the Snuggie as a fashion statement. Everyone we see is mega-super happy to be wearing it, and in one moment, a nuclear family even rocks a set of Snuggies at an outdoor sporting event. They’re surrounded by people in ski coats and windbreakers, and they’re fitting right in.
The implication is that no one would think twice about this family shuffling onto the bleachers—that the Snuggie is such a natural choice for public fashion that it will go unnoticed.
And yet… no. Snuggies look like the robes of a fleece-obsessed druidic cult. The giant hood and sleeves are perfect for hiding ancient tablets or a knife dipped in dragon’s blood.
Anyone wearing this thing in public is going to catch hell, and god forbid there’s an oblivious ninth-grader who has believed this commercial and worn a Snuggie to a high school football game. (This New York Times writer got away with the public display, but Times Square might be the only place where you can pull off the Snuggie as a fashion statement.)
In this ad, though, the world operates by different rules. It’s a world where blankets are the enemy and “cult chic” is the latest trend. I don’t want to live there, but I’m grateful this commercial lets me visit.
25 responses so far ↓
1 Leslie // Mar 4, 2009 at 1:05 pm
OMG. So funny and so true. Well done, Mark!
2 Andrew S! // Mar 4, 2009 at 1:45 pm
The Snuggie ad is everything you need to know about advertising in one single ad. First, you generate a problem that no one ever thinks about (it’s hard to do stuff while covered in a blanket) then gently offer your novel solution (so, wear a blanket with sleeves!). Along the way, show people enjoying your product, convince people you’re giving them a good deal, and hey, throw in a free reading light!
3 katy // Mar 4, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I might add that the commercial also overlooks the obvious solution of putting on a sweater, possibly because in this scenario you’re so cold that only a fleece blanket will do.
I guess I consider myself an expert on sitting on the couch in a blanket, and I gotta tell you that I never encountered the problem of being too trapped to get to the phone.
Not that I wouldn’t wear a Snuggie if I had one.
4 Kevin M. Keating // Mar 4, 2009 at 2:02 pm
The Snuggie is a blatant rip-off of much-higher-quality Slanket, introduced a couple years ago.
I bought one of those for my girlfriend, and they’re actually really huge, really comfortable, and totally awesome.
I hate the Snuggie and the Snuggie commercials for the same reason I hate Pepsi. Which is, it takes something really good, makes it a little less good, and then tries to build a cult around it. (Pepsi Generation?).
The Snuggie takes a private moment of warmth and comfort and turns it into the worst of M. Night Shyamalan universes.
But that’s just me. Others might feel, well, otherwise.
5 Missicat // Mar 4, 2009 at 2:34 pm
And here I was dumb enough to think that throwing on a ROBE would work! Glad this ad set me straight.
6 InfoMofo // Mar 4, 2009 at 2:41 pm
All praise to the Snuggie, the blanket that has sleeves.
7 Kay // Mar 4, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Have you seen the spoof on the Snuggies commercial? Awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h05ZQ7WHw8Y
8 LK // Mar 4, 2009 at 2:58 pm
What drives me nuts about the Snuggie commercial is that they show people outside at a campfire and at a stadium. Do they not realize that your backside may get cold, too???
9 Fraulein N // Mar 4, 2009 at 3:04 pm
The Snuggie worshippers scare me. Also, those dangling sleeves appear to be quite the fire hazard.
10 amber // Mar 4, 2009 at 3:05 pm
my four-year-old calls it a thneed
11 michelle @ TNS // Mar 4, 2009 at 3:08 pm
“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been sitting on the couch on a winter’s night and felt betrayed by my quilt because it wouldn’t cover my arms while I reached for the bowl of popcorn on my lap.”
that happened to me last night (okay, it was a bowl of corn chips). and my husband said, “man, you really need one of those snuggie things.” and i was ashamed for a minute, and then i thought, “yes. yes, i do.”
however, let it be known that i would never wear it OUTSIDE the house. if i’m going to look like a druid, i’m going to do it out of the public eye.
12 Kel // Mar 4, 2009 at 3:15 pm
It’s totally a ripoff of the Slanket, but what gets me is that it’s basically a fleece robe turned around. Okay, maybe it’s slightly longer than a robe.
Here’s a thought. Wear a sweatshirt.
13 Tempest // Mar 4, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I LOVE this commercial. I don’t even need the actual Snuggie because just watching the ad makes me all warm and fuzzy. And grateful for an IQ over 70.
My favorite part of this commercial is the bleacher shot. My shoulders and arms are toasty warm, but my back and, particularly my backside, are freezing cold on those metal steps. Makes perfect sense to me. I’m going to be HUGELY disappointed if this doesn’t end up on a “Best of…” compilation review of commercials within a few years.
14 dimestore lipstick // Mar 4, 2009 at 4:03 pm
They had these at the drugstore one day, and having the opportunity to actually examine one got me wondering why a backwards bathrobe that is the approximate weight of a tee-shirt would ever be better than a blanket.
15 Wendy Rosenfield // Mar 4, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Maybe I’m more susceptible to the cult of personality, but I’m totally over the Snuggie and really more into the Shamwow. That guy’s almost as good as Tony Little and his Gazelle. But only almost.
16 Mark Blankenship // Mar 4, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Wait… what’s a Shamwow? Do tell!
17 Kevin M. Keating // Mar 4, 2009 at 6:07 pm
You do not want to know what the Shamwow is, Mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwRISkyV_B8
18 Mark Blankenship // Mar 4, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Holy crap. I love the moment at 1:24, when the guy says “This last…” then holds the ShamWow up in front of his face. Then a crappily dubbed in new voice says “ten years,” as though we’re not going to notice.
Why did they do that? At the time of filming, had scientists not yet determined how long the ShamWow would last? The mind boggles.
19 Whitey Ford // Mar 4, 2009 at 11:26 pm
I own a Snuggie. Therefore, I am way more awesome than all of you. The End.
Snuggie Lover,
Whitey Ford
20 JennyM // Mar 5, 2009 at 10:20 am
I’m with Kevin M. Keating. The Snuggie is but a rip-off of the highly superior Slanket. You may pry my Slanket out of my cold, dead hands.
21 michelle @ TNS // Mar 5, 2009 at 11:38 am
you don’t know the shamwow?
vince can sell you anything. he’s even better that billy mays.
22 Kaitlyn // Mar 5, 2009 at 12:25 pm
And if you like ShamWow, than you’ll love SlapChop! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbWjIKxrrs
“Stop having a boring tuna – stop having a boring life”
I love Vince and his earpiece/mic.
23 Carol Elaine // Mar 5, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Wait a minute, Mark. You know Glark and yet were not familiar with the Wonder of ShamWow? It’s the same guy who hawks Glark’s favorite classy SlapChop commercial. Vince, he’s a classy one alright.
24 Mark Blankenship // Mar 5, 2009 at 2:30 pm
I’m so glad I’ve been inducted into Vince’s world. He’s amazing.
25 Michael // Mar 5, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Bill Maher last week described the Snuggie as sufficient reason to believe that America will never rise out of the current economic sinkhole; a nation of inventors has sunk to . . . this.
I see it another way: a nation that could produce advertisers and actors who could shut their minds to reality enough to cheerfully hock this thing in the face of all reason and concrete human experience? That’s a nation that can find faith in the face of darkness. These skills need to be applied to good–
The WRITING of the ad–the repetition of claims (because WHAT ELSE CAN YOU SAY? Play the Marimba in toasty comfort?? Control those wayward urges to scratch yourself?? Quickly hide those obscene T-shirt slogans when the parents are coming over?? )–makes me double over.
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