Sunday, July 01, 2007

Best PR Stunt Ever: The Kwik-E-Mart Comes To Times Square


Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? The Simpsons Movie marketing department, apparently!

Back in March, it was reported that eleven 7-11's across the U.S would be re-made into genuine Kwik-E-Marts. Well, hot dog! We have a wiener! Starting today, the location near Times Square (42nd Street between 9th and 8th ave, across from Port Authority) has been Kwikified. The clerk (no, it wasn't Apu OR Hank Azaria) said the transformation would last one month. Check out Geekanerd's exclusive photo coverage below!

Don't bogart that Squishee! Do you think if you slipped the cashier a $20 they'd make one from pure syrup?

Lots more Kwik-E goodness after the jump...



Ads for Krusty-O's and Buzz Cola, both of which are on sale in the store.

The employees all wore Kwik-E-Mart uniforms in shades of light green and blue...since Apu wears his own distinctive threads, not sure if there's a basis for this outfit in the cartoon...any geekanerds out there who can prove me wrong?

UPDATE 7/02: Ooh, Snapatoa: Commenter F-Train has pointed us to James Wood's Kwik-E-Mart wageslave-wear as seen in "Homer and Apu". Compare and contrast the above uniform with this YouTube clip:


Funny stuff, but I believe the best Simpsons joke relating to a bag of ice would be if they'd actually had a bag of ice with a teddy bear head in it. "Ooh, a head bag! Those are full of...heady goodness!"

No chutney flavor, sadly...

The Buzz Cola station...twice the sugar, twice the caffeine!

On eBay, six-packs of Buzz are currently going for about ten bucks, plus shipping...in the store, they sell for 89 cents per can. Where's the Duff Beer? Too edgy for a PR stunt, I guess.

The "Official Simpsons Movie Doughnut" just had white frosting and sprinkles. What the hell? No pink doughnut like on the movie poster? Maybe they were just sold out...

For all the great atmospheric touches, they kinda break the illusion by having those giant Simpsons heads plastered around...still, whatever PR team put this all together did a pretty damn good job.

UPDATE: We're having a giveaway of some Kwik-E-Mart swag! E-mail us before 8pm on Thursday to enter!

8 comments:

Albo said...

Pink donut spotted at http://www.thenjscene.com/viewtopic.php?t=271664

Anonymous said...

No Duff beer? Bummer!!

F-Train said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
F-Train said...

James Woods' uniform was similar to the light green and blue style.

(Link to YouTube clip.)

AHR said...

Great catch, F-Train. Just updated the post. I love that James Woods scene...I am deeply ashamed I didn't think of it first. I will say that I knew Homer that wore a Kwik-E uniform in Lisa's Pony" (http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/gallery/screenshots.php?image=s3/8f06_024.jpg) but it doesn't look quite as close to the live-version as James Woods' does.

Anonymous said...

You know, as cheesy as all the marketing stuff is, a part of me finds the actual cans of buzz and the Krusty-O's and everything a little awesome.

BIG D said...

DAMN 59.40 for a carton of newports is OUTRAGEOUS

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