Infomercial product sparks social movement

The Snuggie infomercials first aired on late night T.V between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. and only grabbed the attention of those with severe insomnia or those pulling all nighters for papers due the next day. Although unlike any other infomercial product, the Snuggie has sparked a social movement across the country. As a nation addicted to finding easier ways to do simple task; we have the "Magic Bullet" which cuts vegetables about five seconds faster than we would with a knife and the "Sham Wow" which caught a lot of attention as well because we never thought we could have something easier to clean up with than a paper towel. Yet, none of these products match up to the Snuggie which is essentially a backwards robe. Its main function is to provide an easier way to stay warm under a blanket and still use your hands for everyday tasks. As the overjoyed actors on the infomercial depict, "you could pick up a remote or even read a book!" The nation is now opened up to a whole new world of possibilities not only at home but also in the nightlife. Snuggies have moved from an essential household item evolving into social attire at bars throughout New York City and Chicago, called the Snuggie Pub Crawl. Pub crawls are large groups of people that move from bar to bar around an area. The major web site who co-produced the Snuggie Pub Crawl, PubCrawl.com, is also responsible for the Guinness book of world records largest pub crawl of 3,100 participants for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Since the Snuggie Pub Crawl's inception, there have been pub crawls of the sort in many major cities, including Cincinnati whose first pub crawl was on Jan. 30 along with Nashville and San Diego whose pub crawls began in early March. The web site SnuggiePubCrawl.com is the main web site for details on bars participating in pub crawls and since then has gained 225,000 hits. Snuggie pub crawls aren't only an opportunity to socialize in your blankie; it extends the playpen to charity. Many of the pub crawls offer an opportunity to give back such as donations going to the children at the AC orphanage in Arusha, Tanzania and food drives upon check-in to help the homeless and hungry on Chicago. Food drives and donations are only traditional parts of charity as bars have also featured "Shots for Tots," $2 shots in which all the money goes to charity. This social movement is not only a way for people to loosen up and nap with a warm blanket after a hard day's work but also to volunteer in the form of a shot or a beer. Among donations are raffle prizes such as Lollapalooza passes and free tickets to see Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago based Snuggie pub crawls. The Snuggie pub crawls seem to be more of a Snuggie festival with charity events and prizes raffled off along with drink specials but there is one condition. Every pub crawl is BYOS, meaning bring your own Snuggie. Even though the dress code doesn't have so much restriction, they offer retail places to pick up your Snuggie or even make one on your own. It's not so easy to just jump in on the Snuggie crawl free of charge, ticket prices for the event start at eighteen-dollars and prices increase as tickets are bought closer to the pub crawl date. The Snuggie pub crawls are becoming a huge success and according to Snuggie PubCrawl.com, ticket sales are limited to 2,500, one could easily infer that the pub crawls have an enormous following. Although, there are many who find the idea of drinking in public while wearing a robe to be odd and even, hideous. Sophomore Erica Connery finds wearing Snuggies in public "like a weird cult following. I don't get what the hype is. The Snuggie seems like a good idea for the home, but to wear out in the streets is taking the Snuggie a little too far. I think it's far from any fashion statement. It's more fashion questionable." The next New York City Snuggie Pub Crawl will hit New York City's East side on May 2 and May 5 just in time for Cinco de Mayo. There are over a dozen bars participating including the Village Pourhouse, Belmont Lounge, Central Bar and Duke's.