"Get On Your Snuggie" declares the full-page, four-color ad in Sunday's New York Times magazine. After months of trying to ignore this thing, the Sassistas! are finally throwing in the blanket. Seeing this ad published directly across a page continuing the cover story article on Carl Jung's heretofore unpublished "Red Book" finally did us in.
Put yourself in our reading chair. There you are savoring: Giving a dream to a Jungian analyst is a little bit like feeding a
complex quadratic equation to someone who really enjoys math. It takes
time. The process itself is to be savored. The solution is not always
immediately evident. In the following months, I told my dream to
several more analysts . . . and across the page, in brazen living color, is this nightmare product.
The Sassistas! don't want to Get on Our Snuggie. To quote the ad's subhead: "That's right!" We want Snuggie to get off. To go away. Where will we see this ad next? The New Yorker magazine? Conde Nast Traveler? Bon Appetit?
What other uses can we find for these things after we send as many as we can to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? How can we re-purpose Snuggies to make our world a better, safer place?
Not seen in the bottom right-hand corner of the Snuggie ad in the photograph post is a dachshund in a Snuggie. I'm not kidding.
That's right! Snuggie's are great for pets, too! Get a load of the video in this link:
https://www.snuggiefordogs.com/flare/next?tag=os%7Csm%7Cgo%7Cgn
Posted by: Flannista | September 23, 2009 at 06:27 AM
Aren't these Snuggie's the uniforms women were required to wear in Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tail?
http://fusionanomaly.net/handmaidstale.jpg
Posted by: Flannista | September 23, 2009 at 06:30 AM
I apologize if I sound snooty or smug or patrician, but this thing really bugs me. Look at those two folks in the ad. Apparently you can dance while drinking hot coffee as long as you are wearing a Snuggie. It's also a giant bib? Is flame retardant?
Posted by: Flannista | September 23, 2009 at 06:33 AM
RE-PURPOSE SNUGGIES FOR:
Holiday Tree Disposal
Posted by: Flannista | September 23, 2009 at 06:34 AM
Let's see, Carl Jung or Snuggie. Deep, heavy and dry vs. smiling and happy. Snuggie wins. Jung should go.
Posted by: nowayasista | September 23, 2009 at 07:25 AM
The Snuggie's ad is the face of American consumerism...kind of an infomercial in print. We love our infomercials. The ad follows good advertising principals: bright colors to attract attention, happy, smiling white people to attract the readers who are young (40ish) white people and a cute little dog to attract all the pet lovers. I think they pretty much nailed their demographic. And, in the end, isn't it about the money?
I noticed that on the other side of the page were ads for a chair, expensive homes in ?Virginia?, and some other stuff, but in black and white, not color. Those ads are designed to appeal to the staid, conservative, and more elderly of the readers.
You wouldn't have sounded like a snob/patrician/snooty/smug Flann had you not used words like "brazen" (like a hussy), "nightmare product" (it's only a blanket sacklike thing), and sitting in our reading chair (I can almost see the ottoman, house slippers, pipe, and the little woman cross-stitching as you read about Jung and dream analysis). (Please know that I am teasing you...except for the brazen part.)
Posted by: half-a-sista | September 23, 2009 at 08:05 AM
Get ready, Flann, because I predict that soon someone will be wearing a Snuggie next to you on a plane. The airlines don't offer blankets anymore, so this is the next thing, people will wear their "blankets" when flying.
Also, sounds like this product is being promoted as the "go to" gift for the holidays. With the decline in the economy, there must be a backlog of these in a warehouse in China ... in giant American sizes.
Posted by: PEACEsista | September 23, 2009 at 08:09 AM
Choir robes. They would make good choir robes in these financial hard times. The church elders could turn down the heat and give everyone in the choir a Snuggie...Snuggie Up to [fill in the name of the deity] could be the name of their religious wear department.
These would be great outfits for the elderly and incontinent and would serve as muumuus that warmed the old. Old people are always cold or so I hear.
I hesitate to say this, but I have a first generation huggie and I use it. I love it during the winter when I turn the heat down low to save money.
Posted by: half-a-sista | September 23, 2009 at 08:21 AM
I think what I have is called a "Sleep Sack" and is the great-great-great grandparent of the Snuggie.
(Flann, I'm concerned where you mind was when you typed in The Handmaid's TAIL. Was you mind on posting?)
Read the article on the "Red Book". Very fascinating and I will want to buy it when it becomes available, unless it is enormously expensive. Maybe the library will carry it.
Couldn't find a name for the thing the women wore in The Handmaid's Tale. It was often referred to as "The Garment." Looks like a Snuggie. Maybe that's how Snuggie's began. I love conspiracy theories.
Posted by: half-a-sista | September 23, 2009 at 08:29 AM
Oh dear, I DID spell "tale" "tail."
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? WAS I DREAMING? WHAT WOULD JUNG SAY?
noway: a new line for your three-line assessments of all things highbrow: "Jung should go" now joins your lexicon along with "Shake be gone."
PEACE: someone sitting next to me on a plane will be wearing this thing? Would TSA allow it through? I guess if members of the Sisters of Bon Secours can fly in planes, so can folks wearing these things.
Posted by: Flannista | September 23, 2009 at 08:52 AM
half-a-sista: the chair ad on the page continuing the Jung cover story costs about $200. Yeah, that's just for one of those antique things.
At $19.95, including reading light, the Snuggie is a lot more economical, plus one could use it as a chair cover for old, ugly chairs. It would really brighten up the room.
Posted by: Flannista | September 23, 2009 at 08:55 AM
Bet it would make a nice tablecloth, or perhaps (if it comes in white) a great snow blanket under the Christmas tree. OH! Or maybe the thing you buffer the Christmas train track with? (yes, I know I ended that badly, sue me).
I could cut it up and it would make great blankies for rescued animals...
Posted by: Chrysosistah | September 23, 2009 at 09:07 AM
Probably would also make a great cover for tropical bird cages...
Posted by: Chrysosistah | September 23, 2009 at 09:08 AM
At least some marketing/advertising person is working...For me, these things fit into the same class of product as pet rocks, singing trout, Chias, etc. Just another way to fritter away your cash.
Posted by: Chrysosistah | September 23, 2009 at 09:13 AM
Chryso, not to worry. It is now okay to end sentences with prepositions or so says a reader of mine.
Flann, bet the Snuggie is cheaper than the chair. You could probably outfit a family in lookalike Snuggies for less than $200. That's an idea. How about a house full of Snuggie-clad people ramming into each other with coffee pots and full cups of coffee (at least until they hit someone)?
I think it would make a nice funeral outfit. The undertakers could just pull on the Snuggie over the head and VOILA! you have an instantly (and tastefully, might I add) outfit for the dead. Cheap, no cutting away of the back.
Prinsoners could wear them thus keeping them identifiable in their florescent orange Snuggies. No more crawling over fences or crawling through tunnels in those wide open outfits.
Maternity wear...no more stretch panels for pregnant women...Snuggies for the Soon-to-be mothers.
I would be happy to offer you an off-line interpretation of your mis-typed "tale". I don't think it would be appropriate to discuss it here in a setting where impressionable minds might get ideas (if you know what I mean).
PEACE, great idea for travel. No metal. No pockets. And, in case of a strip search, not a lot to remove and, yet, you would still be warm.
Posted by: half-a-sista | September 23, 2009 at 09:19 AM
Half-a - I think I've just had the Snuggie ripped from my eyes. Do you mean to tell me that every dead person has a hospital-gown-type breeze wafting up their backsides?? Say it ain't so!!
Posted by: Chrysosistah | September 23, 2009 at 09:32 AM
Now, frida may want to opine, here, but what about putting a Snuggie on; then rolling around in some paint and then on a canvas? Jackson Pollock -- move over!
Posted by: Jerseysista | September 23, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Chryso, when clothes don't fit right, morticians/undertakers make adjustments in the clothes by cutting here, tucking there. Not every dead person has their backside exposed as I can tell you from the time my uncle tried to lift my grandmother out of the coffin and take her home with him. That's the stuff of nightmares.
Visual frida in a Snuggie, rolling in paint, and then rolling across canvases in her studio. You could film it. She is a fantastic painter in her own right, but think what a Snuggie could do for (to?) her career.
Posted by: half-a-sista | September 23, 2009 at 10:31 AM
We can give a Snuggie to the Guantanamo detainees that we release to keep them warm in their home countries as a demonstration of our understanding of their culture and a reminder of the days that they were stripped naked, hung from their hands and left in cold cells. (There will be special parting gifts from the Home Shopping Network to remind certain releasees of our electric drill demonstrations).
Posted by: Justista | September 23, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Leave it to Justista to suggest that Snuggie's could cover evidence of Guantanamo torture.
Here I was reveling in the picture of frida rolling around on a canvas in one and Justista brings up torture. But think about it Justista -- is wearing one of those things REALLY better than being left naked in a cold cell?
Posted by: Flannista | September 23, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Flann, Justista's idea is what capitalism is all about. Imagine the fascination of the hometown folks when the prisoners return safe and sound (albeit a little worse for wear) with these fantastic garments. Everyone will want one. Think of the advertising campaign...A Snuggie to fit the world...with pictures of starving children in the Sudan in Snuggies, Gitmo detainees freed and wearing Snuggies, Bob Dole in a Snuggie (is he still alive...if so this might redeem him for his participation in the Viagra commercials).
Posted by: half-a-sista | September 23, 2009 at 11:14 AM
I think Matissta will back me up on this, but don't you think Jean and Claude Christo could also use Snuggies for their works of art? Think of how the following work of Christo art may have been SO MUCH BETTER if they had used Snuggies:
http://www.geocities.com/legalhistory/Icandy/krims/christo.jpg
Posted by: Flannista | September 23, 2009 at 11:16 AM
How can we overlook how the Snuggie was used in the movie, "Eyes Wide Shut"?
http://hyperstition.abstractdynamics.org/archives/eyeswideshut_redemption.jpg
Posted by: Flannista | September 23, 2009 at 12:11 PM
First of all, good catch by half-a on the "tail" typo. I'm rather disappointed in myself that I missed it. I too could offer interpretations though, if his do not suffice.
Snuggies are not big sellers in FL, I don't think. Then again, they just might be, as every other infomercial product seems to find a very receptive audience here.
Clearly, I am often fond of snooty, smug, and patrician views, so no apology needed. I will ponder other uses and get back with you if possible.
Posted by: babysis | September 23, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Black Snuggie used here: http://www.utoronto.ca/stmikes/kelly/images/amadeus.jpg
Posted by: Jerseysista | September 23, 2009 at 12:38 PM