The Snuggie: Causing an uproar, keeping people warm

By Nicole Cort

What is the one thing that makes watching TV, eating snacks, reading books and spending time outside all possible? If you believe the company’s infomercial, it’s the Snuggie.

The advertisement for the Snuggie claims that this blanket with sleeves is the ultimate trick to keeping warm no matter the location: watching a baseball game, sitting outside around a campfire or laying down reading a book. It seems as if these marketers believe everyone has the perfect fictional lifestyle.

Snuggie has now released a new version of the original called the Snuggglette, made specifically for children. Similar to its predecessor, the Snugglette features warmth in royal blue or pretty pink and ” if you call now” you can receive a pair of matching slipper socks. Woohoo, great deal!

This advertisement claims the ability to study more effectively and the ability to eat a snack and come back for more while keeping warm.

Although a Snuggie may not be at the top of your list of things to buy during a recession, a USA Today article from January says that more than 4 million have been sold since September, and the numbers are increasing rapidly.

It isn’t the only product of its kind; there was the Slanket that premiered in 1998, the Nuddle that is marketed by a husband-and-wife team, and the suspiciously Snuggie-like Toasty Wrap.

The Snuggie is becoming a cultural icon, though. It is a subject of parody and teasing on YouTube videos — more than 300, including the wildly popular “Cult of Snuggie” video — and has gotten nods on talk shows, including one on the Ellen Degeneres show. There are dozens of Facebook pages related to the Snuggie, some with thousands of members.

On the other hand, the company has received a barrage of complaints since it started being sold in August. A lot of complaints on chatrooms center on the business side of things: being overcharged, not getting the Snuggie or having to wait too long to get the product. In a review by the Better Business Bureau, the parent company, Fosdick, received an F.

For whatever the Snuggie may be worth, it has certainly affected pop culture and has struck the attention of people around the nation.