Kmart’s ‘Ship My Pants’ Video Goes Viral
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Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — An advertisement for Kmart’s free shipping for loyalty members has gone viral, using wordplay in a crude joke that has resonated with the masses.
The 35-second video was published on YouTube five days ago and has more than 10 million views.
“I think it’s one of the largest number of views we’ve had,” said Kmart spokeswoman Shannelle Armstrong-Fowler.
Of the 60 videos on the Kmart YouTube site, the video has nearly 100 times as many views as the second-highest video, showing designer Eddie Ross decorating a Christmas tree.
The viral ad starts with a dad speaking with a Kmart worker:
“Ship my pants? Right here? Ship my pants, you’re kidding,” the dad says.
“You can ship your pants right here,” the worker says.
The ad then has a number of other characters proudly saying they’ve shipped their products.
Armstrong-Fowler said the video will air as a television commercial on select cable networks later this week or early next week.
“We are so excited our customers have responded in such an overwhelmingly positive way,” Armstrong-Fowler said.
The ad is a promotion for a free-shipping feature available to Kmart’s Shop Your Way customers. The feature allows customers who signed up for the free membership program to receive free shipping on 65 million products if they can’t find them in Kmart stores.
“If you want a dress in a size small that’s not in stock, we can order it in the store and have it shipped free of charge,” Armstrong-Fowler said.
Other features of the membership program include e-receipts and price advantages. Armstrong-Fowler declined to say how many Shop Your Way customers Kmart has.
In terms of the ad’s appeal, Larry Woodard, advertising columnist with ABC News and CEO of Graham Stanley Advertising, was more skeptical.
“It’s an old joke and there are a lot of commercials that have used this tactic,” he said.
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