Kmart’s ‘Jingle Bells’ ad goes viral, sparks One Million Moms protest
Kmart is courting a Christmas controversy with a naughty new holiday commercial showing men dressed in colorful boxers shaking their shorts -- and everything therein -- to the tune of “Jingle Bells.”
The “Show Your Joe” ad, selling Joe Boxer shorts, has gone viral, racking up more than 7 million hits on YouTube. But the advocacy group One Million Moms has launched a social media campaign to pull the ad from TV, denouncing it as “disgusting,” “inappropriate” and “filth” that should not be seen by families gathering to watch TV.
Moreover, the group accuses Kmart of making “a deliberate decision to produce controversial advertisements instead of wholesome ones. This is a terrible plan on Kmart’s part, especially at this time of year!”
The group is urging supporters to use social media to shame Kmart into removing the ad.
It asks supporters to post “Kmart’s distasteful new commercial has to go! This ad should be pulled off the air immediately” on their Facebook pages and use their Twitter accounts to post: “@kmart Shame on Kmart for airing inappropriate commercials. #kmart”
Kmart doesn’t appear to be budging, going by the statement the retailer released:
“The Kmart ‘Show Your Joe’ commercial playfully showcases Joe Boxer’s men’s clothing available at Kmart. We regret if some people found the commercial offensive, as that was not our intent.”
Emphasis on “some” people.
It appears that many more people are enjoying the saucy commercial that shows a chorus line of handsome men with well muscled legs gyrating and thrusting to the holiday tune.
It’s earning plenty of “great ad” comments on Twitter, and has more than 33,000 “thumbs up” on YouTube as it is shared again and again.
And then there is this, what just might be the highest praise of all for an ad:
@Kmart on my way to fill a carriage with JoeBoxers!! #loveit #joeboxer #lightenupitsnotrealpeople— Mary Giordano (@Giofamily7) November 20, 2013
What do you think about the new ad, which is part of Kmart’s seeming new trend toward the saucy. (See Ship My Pants and Big Gas Savings).
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