Everyone’s talking about the latest fashion choice for the holiday. Iconic Stove Top Stuffing, a staple for many family feasts, is promoting logo-imprinted “Thanksgiving Dinner Pants,” and they are hot.
Cosmopolitan, InStyle, People, USA Today, Bustle, even Food & Wine are all aflutter about these maroon unisex stretch pants imprinted with a photo-realistic image of the stuffing on an alarmingly wide waistband and pocket interiors. The latter is a detail much appreciated by fashionistas and “Napoleon Dynamite” fans alike. “Get your own tots—ehem, stuffing!”
In a time when the pressure is on families to eat meals made from whole, locally sourced and non-GMO ingredients, processed food is getting a bad reputation. Stove Top Stuffing is made from dehydrated bread, natural and artificial flavors, as well as a healthy dose of preservatives.
The marketing campaign is a savory mixture of kitsch, nostalgia and wholesome humor, the perfect blend for anyone who grew up eating this super salty side. While Mom or Grandma and the Aunts (i.e. the women) mashed potatoes by hand and braised that turkey every 20 minutes, the stuffing was a last-minute effort left to the maroon box. It’s a little taste of the 1980s for all the pining Gen Xers out there. Guaranteed to fit everyone (poorly), Thanksgiving Dinner Pants are available for $19.95 in sizes XS to XL through the Kraft website and Target online.
The pants have gone viral—for their oddity in existing at all and for the badly lit promo photos featuring a “family” decked out in the loungewear. So “who wore it best?” Maybe you will when your kooky great uncle buys a pair for every cousin to wear in the next family reunion photo. For a low price and big laughs, it’s a bet someone will stuff your stocking with them (Get it? Stuff.).
In the meantime, after a year full of bad news and angry politics, more shoppers will likely pick up a box of Stove Top Stuffing on their next grocery run, if only to shake their head and smile at their ironic choice. In the end, the pants and the stuffing will probably both end up in a donation box.
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