Social Media Ripples – Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt
This post was made May 19, 2009 by Carlos del Rio
User generated content is frightening for many businesses because they fear getting a review like this one for a wolf t-shirt on Amazon:
This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that’s when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to ‘howl at the moon’ from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn’t have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn’t settle for the first thing that comes to him.
I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.
Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women
Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the ‘guns’), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.
For established companies this kind of review seems counter-productive, maybe even damaging to the brand. Look through some of the reviews of the page currently there are 200+ reviews that range from the one above to a one-star review that is equally tongue-in-cheek:
So I got this wolf shirt because of, you know, the sweet wolves on it.
However, having owned this shirt for three weeks now and having tried it out in a variety of situations, both formal and informal, I’m beginning to believe that some of the benefits —- as described by other reviewers —- are exaggerated. For example, not ONE supermodel has approached me. Some of you may be used to having supermodels approach you on a regular basis but, believe me, I am not: I would notice one should she appear in my vicinity.
Similarly, I have not been invited to a vision quest, even though I wore my wolf shirt in New Mexico.
There is one thing, though, and that is that whenever I wear the wolf shirt I have a lot less issues with involuntary urination. I have not studied it long enough, however, to establish a cause/effect relationship.
Once, however, while wearing the wolf shirt I was mistaken for Schneider, the building superintendent on “One Day at a Time.”
So I guess the jury is still out.
The company selling this t-shirt has many different shirts–most only have one or two reviews. The Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt has hundred, but why? Because, people like to be entertained and like to show off. Today alone I have received three e-mails about this wolf shirt. I found it funny so I passed it along on Twitter. Actually, hundreds of tweets reference the shirt.
There will be a consumate stream of traffic for the next couple of days, but what will it accomplish? Sales? Links? Maybe a few of both. It also buries the real reviews–which can be good or bad (depending on your situation). Even though theses reviews seem silly they are not going to hurt Amazon or the selling company. Watch over the next few days to see how frequently this meme reappears and likely for someone outing it as a paid social media campaign.
–
Note: I stand corrected. This Internet meme has skyrocketed the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt to number one in apparel sales on Amazon.
At Amazon, “the Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt is currently the No. 1-selling item in our apparel store, recently moving up 2,300 percent in sales rank,” said Russell Dicker, senior manager of community content.
So, this kind of viral customer review humor can have a very nice effect on sales.
