Update/Commentroversy: This Is What Happens When You Argue With A Drunk In A Blanket
So yesterday, we came out, in no uncertain terms, against the Philly Snuggie Bar Crawl. As if that is some kind of wild surprise. The whole thing then exploded in the comments, whereupon various and sundry Snuggie People’s Co-Workers came on and acted like this is something anyone, anywhere, could possibly ever give a shit about anywhere. One of them even called for a boycott of Philebs on Twitter; then we were all, like, please, darling; then she said she found the term “darling” sexist; at which point we looked up her LinkedIn profile, only to find out that she went to Penn and the whole thing was rendered moot anyhow. So why all the spilled blood over Snuggies? Well, we just thought it was lame, end of story; others bristled at the notion that we were somehow crapping all over a charitable event when we challenged Project H.O.M.E. to disavow any involvement. But let’s be clear here: Contrary to what Snugbomb’s Co-Workers may believe, this Snuggie Fucklunch thing or whatever it is isn’t actually raising funds for Project H.O.M.E. (or at least, NOT UNTIL WE SHAME THEM INTO IT!); rather, they are donating what are sure to be nasty-ass beer-soaked Snuggies to the homeless. In the realm of charitable works, this ranks just slightly below letting a bum have the rest of your joint as you duck back into the club. This commenter, Dookie, actually nailed it when he said:
why cant we all just get along? why must a pseudo-intellectual blogger with an admiral flair for cynicism use his skills to tear down a charity event that is more important than his blog? why cant people who run charity events see that said blogger has a good point? there is a sad breakdown in our city between do-gooders and cool people. the cool people tend not to actually be smart enough to see that being cool is less important than doing good, whereas the do-gooders are corny as shit. at the very least the two factions should declare a cease fire and let each other live in peace. that means a ban on blog posts shitting on charitable events, however shitty they may be.
Dookie, we think you’re right. But we’re not done with SnuggieGate just yet. According to their website, the Philadelphia Snuggie Crawl’s only charitable element is, as we noted, donating used the Snuggies after the crawl. For an event this brazenly fucking stupid, that is just not enough. So here is our challenge: We request (and you can co-sign in the comments if you like) that the organizers of the Philadelphia Snuggie Crawl make all participating bars donate 15% of the event’s bar ring to Project H.O.M.E. Actual money, people. Throw it down. And keep in mind that standard alcohol markup in your bar of choice is usually, oh, say, 400%. In return, Philebrity will run a post before (and separate from) that weekend’s Weekend Picks post, detailing all the stops on the bar crawl route, linking out to each participating bar, plus we’ll donate ad space to both the Snuggie Crawl AND, as mentioned yesterday, Project H.O.M.E. Ladies, the gauntlet has been thrown.
October 6th, 2009 at 11:56 am
I have no interest in the outcome of snuggiegate, but thank you for the rant. This is why I love reading Philebrity.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
seriously. if the impetus for this “pub crawl” (and if you go from the Dark Horse to the New Deck, as Twitter suggests, it’s more trek than crawl) is charity, then at least you could up the charitable kitty. a coat drive would be better than a collection of ratty used snuggies. at least the Running of the Santas — which in may ways is even more obnoxious — gives money to Alex’s Lemonade and the Ellie Koerner Leukemia Fund.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
okay, would Bon Jovi in a Snuggie help?
October 6th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Her senior thesis is, umm, darling? Well, it’s certainly something.
http://www.arth.upenn.edu/vlst/2009-studentsites/ak/FashionShoot.htm
October 6th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
So I assume what this means is that customedia labs got paid by snuggie to sell more snuggies and they stuck megan_b and the other woman with coming up with this craptastic idea?
So people buy snuggies, pay full price and then give them away. How charitable by everyone but the ad agents organizing it and the company paying the ad agents to organize it.
P.S. Forget the bars, until snuggie actually donates something they shouldn’t get any advertisin. Unless of course, Arthur Kade is involved.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Gauntlet received. Honestly, this idea just started out of fun for my friend and me, and I’m sorry to hear a lot of backlash and less-than-nice comments. For what it’s worth, everyone who has responded to you has done so voluntarily based on personal opinion, not through my or my friend’s urging.
We made the Crawl public a few days ago to see how many people in the area might be interested, and came up with the idea of donating the Snuggies as a way to add a charity element to the event. There are only 2 of us organizing this; neither of us know much about organizing charity events, and that’s something I am now realizing that we should have looked into more before we launched the idea. Keep in mind, we didn’t realize it would blow up so much. By the way, we are planning on washing the Snuggies before we donate. Ha.
I would love to do this, Phileb, it’s an excellent idea. You don’t need to shame us into it. I’m just not sure how to go about doing this and I’m wondering if any readers out there have any experience organizing this type of charitable pub crawl? Any tips on how to pitch this idea to bars? Send ‘em our way, @PHLSnuggieCrawl. In the meantime, we’re working on it.
Thanks.
– Megan
October 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Now that I’ve visted the Snuggie Pubcrawl site, all I see it as is a Snuggie pimpmobile.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
@Jordan – My agency isn’t involved at all in this; it’s simply where I work, and someone asked. We don’t have any affiliation with Snuggie.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Megan,
Stop lying about it being an idea cooked between you and a friend. It’s a marketing campaign disguised as a charitable act, hence the proliferation of “spontaneous” snuggie pub crawls over the past seven months.
As far as charitable giving, I assume that Snuggie comped you guys yours and the rest of the folks who are invited to attend the crawl are buying snuggie’s full price. The faux “help the homeless” theme of your little campaign is probably the most offensive part of all.
Really, we all have the internet, do you think we are that dumb?
Jordan
P.S. How come no one at the customedia labs web cam is wearing snuggies?
October 6th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Megan, I just saw your new post. If that is true then the comment at 12:42 is incorrect and I apologize. I assume that then you receive no money for your participation in this?
Jordan
October 6th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
@ride1076
I completely agree. Especially with the enticement to buy more than one Snuggie, one for you and one for a homeless person. This is lamer than people who don’t say lame.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Who gives a shit? If this thing does get organized the right way and there are real donations involved, doesn’t this corny-ass drink day turn into a good thing? Even if it was possibly started by a stylistically challenged corporation?
October 6th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Figuring out a way to get Kade in a snuggie. I think Jordan is onto something there.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
@ dbritt
“If” is the key word, but why shouldn’t people call out crummy viral marketing when they see it? And there wouldn’t be real donations unless tips called out the whole nonsense as BS to begin with.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I never get why Philebs has to antagonize its own readers. First with the jabs at the anti-casino activists and now this? It’s necessarily dickish and may be the reason I stop reading.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I can just imagine the poor homeless guy who gets stuck with the snuggie, while the one who were lucky enough to score coats from some coat drive laugh at him. And aren’t snuggies designed for sitting around and eating chips while watching mindnumbing amounts of television? I don’t think that really fits into the homeless lifestyle.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
couldn’t we just quarantine this mess to manayunk and call it a day?
October 6th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Yeah, as anyone who has worn a snuggie will tell you, and I admit to being one, it’s not really walking around apparel.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Holy internet angst Batman!
This event has nothing to do with Snuggie or Custommedialabs. And the idea to donate snuggies (washed, of course) was a last minute idea. The idea for the whole thing was conjured up by my two friends over some drinks this summer to do something semi-funny in the colder times.
I hope it can be organized to raise money and it becomes every cynical person’s dream event. But honestly the spirit of this whole thing has gotten sort of off track becuase of some strange egos and the attempt to outwit everyone else on Wordpress. Can’t we all just get along in some ridiculous front capes and drink beers? Yikes
October 6th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Rock on, Nate…wear it loud and wear it proud!
October 6th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
That Snuggie is going to make a great roof to a cardboard/milkcrate fort the homeless donor lives in.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
A snuggie pub crawl is lame.
Adding a charitable element by donating a used snuggie, slightly less lame.
Philebs idea that ACTUAL MONEY be rasied for this would make it silly for a good cause. Let’s see some cash on the table, snuggie lovers.
And, Megan, you seem like a sweet, well-intentioned girl. I hope this ends up being fun for you and that you raise a lot of money for charity. Some folks might be haters, but I bet all the hooplah will get you a bigger turnout AND help raise money for a deserving organization.
(sidenote: my boss once annouced a policy that using a snuggie at work would be an offense worthy of termination. i couldn’t agree more.)
October 6th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I tried in vain to post a comment on all of this yesterday. There was some kind of hiccup in the internets that thwarted my efforts. I was trying to suggest that there should be a model akin to selling carbon offsets for situations like this… let’s call them “cultural offsets”. Any event that leaves a negative cultural footprint (such as the Snuggie Pub Crawl, or whatever was going on in Center City on Saturday night that filled the neighborhood with college kids going out with no pants on… seriously), should offset the downward pressure on our city’s collective intellect by having a charitable angle. I suggested Philebrity be the venue by which such cultural offsets be offered and it would seem that Joey has already beaten me to the punch. Some of you may be quick to ask the question, “who exactly gets to decide which events leave a negative cultural footprint,” and the answer is: Joey… and me. This is, after all, being suggested by yours truly on Philebrity, to be brokered via Philebrity, for the benefit of all.
You’re welcome.
Oh, and @ John Lightstone, I think it is wonderfully absurd that you called homelessness a “lifestyle”.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
@expat attack
Obviously, “if” is a big chance.
But the girl that started the thing already agreed that she’d do what she can to get the ball rolling outside of a blog’s comment section. That’s more than any other promises made on here, tips included.
Also, how much of a “crummy viral marketing” scheme is this? It’s got everyone on here talking even though there’s about a 2% chance of any Philebrity readers actually showing up.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
@dbritt
Given that we’ve pretty quickly deduced it’s not an earnest charity, but instead a schlock attempt to sell Snuggies, and that, by your own estimate, no one will buy them and participate….yes, it’s a fucking massive fail.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
The original reasons given for disliking the Snuggiecrawl was that it encourages the culture of lowered expectations, where “we’re all fat loads who hate sex and have no style and are somehow not the inheritors of a beautiful and rigorous intellectual and aesthetic heritage”.
We’re still famous for our cheesesteaks and pretzels, right?
You proposed a pretty weak theory based upon your reading of an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, then used that theory to attack something you didn’t know much about.
Then, instead of apologizing or admitting that you caused this whole uproar by challenging a charity to refuse a donation purely because the donators’ event offended your still-ridiculous theory, you offered to use the power of your ad space to promote the event so long as the organizers change the event to fit some arbitrary formula you created where 15% of bar proceeds offsets egregious offense to blogger who is carrying the torch for the inheritors of Philadelphia’s beautiful and rigorous intellectual and aesthetic heritage.
It is nice to know there is a price – even if it goes to charity – for anything. How much of the proceeds from their ad revenues would Always Sunny have to donate before it offsets the egregiousness of its Loser Lifestyle promoting?
Just apologize to the organizers for foolishly thinking you had found an example to support your whacked-out theory AND offer the ad space to Project H.O.M.E. regardless of how much money is raised. You can do it for free if the bars donate money, so why can’t you do it now?
October 6th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
@expat attack
So you’re saying that if you, me, and every other pretentious commenter doesn’t buy a Snuggie that their campaign has failed?
There’s a lot of douche bags in this fine city, bud. A lot more than there are pretentious Philebrity commenters.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Philebrity, if you are going to get all righteous…why don’t you donate a % of the proceeds from your new record label or blog to an organization that teaches homeless lepers how to play the banjo or make crappy 8-bit music?
October 6th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
@adam_c: I love these commenters who come on and are like, THIS IS WHAT YOU DID! Oh, thanks, I had no idea. I think I made it clear that both Project H.O.M.E. and The SnuggleDrunk Festival are going to benefit here. And if you think that after all of this, that anyone is actually going to say, “Sorry, Project H.O.M.E., you didn’t declare the cultural bankruptcy of SnugFuck ‘09, so we’re not giving you free ad space,” you know very little about the basic decency of human beings. Or at least these ones over here.
@rascal b. schuylkillian: I like where you’re going with this. Let’s just see if there’s any proceeds to be had first. As far as Philebrity helping out 501c’s, we already do. We just try not to be showy about it. It’s not in the media kit. That would be… gauche.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Very classy of you to pass out this girl’s personal information to make the amazing point that she was a upenn student. Figures that she’d be smart!
October 6th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I think “we” haven’t deduced this as a snuggie sales pitch. That seems like ridiculous reaching.
That said, rascal, Philebrity never posed itself as a “charity,” unlike some naif who wanted to bill her happening as a charitable event. Now that I’ve learned through this blog that the snuggie barcrawl isn’t a fundraiser but rather rationalizing “daring to be stupid” as a “charitable moment” I can’t help but find this offensive.
Does Project H.O.M.E. even know they’re intending this donation? The fact that they’re “celebrating” these garments by wearing them out before giving them to the homeless could be misconstrued as bumface minstrelsy. I’m not saying this is what you’re intending, but hey, the Mummers claim to not be aiming to hurt anyone either.
“let’s all wear something stupid, and then dump these stupid things, yeah, the homeless could use them”
October 6th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I go away for a week, come back – and see all hell has broke lose. First off, this seems more like a battle of the english majors than a fun Philly Pubcrawl – regardless of the criteria. I’m just reading all this back an forth garbage about people trying to be more intellectual than the other. It’s pretty “loserish” if you ask me. Get a life. And it seems it was just supposed to be a bunch of friends on Twitter that TIPS finds and declares all out war. Why? Who knows… Why not just drop your pants, whip out your cocks and declare who has a bigger one? Will that settle it? I really don’t understand the reason for Phileb to go ape shit on these two girls (however many) just trying to get friends together and maybe TRY to do some good out of it, like give their snuggies away afterwards. Instead, I get a bunch of dimwits breaking out their dictionaries and posting the most absurd bullshit I have ever read on this sight. What gives you the right, Phileb, to attack these two people who obviously are not trying to gain anything out if this – who were obviously minding their own business until you came upon their tweet – what gives you the right to attack with such conviction and why? Why? Really… .why do you give such a shit? WHY?/! Grow up already. And where do I sign up? I’ll be there, just to spite you a-holes. This will be my final comment. I am no longer a reader of yours. Nothing but a bunch of blogging bullies. Later.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Natashka = penn student who apparently is coasting through some sort of design degree by copying shit the MIT media lab came up with in the mid 90s. No problem philebs pointing out that the Ivy gals and boys got it easy.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
@heynow: She put it all over the Twitter.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Author : StraightDave_ManSlammer (IP: 70.91.19.85 , custommedialabs.com)
CUSTOMMEDIALABS: WHERE TO GO WHEN THE LAST THING YOU WANT IS… TRANSPARENCY!
I know how much people love it when I do this.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
no. she posted something about your foolishness on twitter to the few dozen people that are following her.
you responded by outing all of her personal information to the thousands (?) of folks that read your blog.
that sounds like a cross between bullying and harassment.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
@tips: Don’t get all touchy when someone summarizes your argument in a way you don’t fancy.
The basic decency of human beings would usually preclude challenging a charity to make a choice between accepting one gift or another, which was your original proposal. Which, as you noted many times in the comments on your first post, stood quite a while. It was also decent to rip into the plan two girls came up with for fun because it offended a random culture of loserdom theory. Decent.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
The outing of all personal information does not apply to anyone here. That Natashka person had to have made all of those details public for them to be discovered in this fashion.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
If you post it on Twitter, anyone can find it unless your tweets are protected (which hers aren’t). I am guessing if you searched Philebrity and went through yesterdays tweets you could find it. I am guessing tips found it because she posted it as @Philebrity because she wanted the attention.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I just had to come back one more time.. no doubt TIPS would bully me too. I guess he didnt depend on me returning, so I have to call bullshit. You are such an idiot. Learn to read logs…. 76.116.104.24. You really are the world’s worst bull shitter. I guess you’ll say I switched locations. God! This site is such bullshit. I never knew what an asshole you were. Later, liar!!!
October 6th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Anyone else finding that, based on comments, more people are willing to be “outspoken” on taste-judgements toward Snuggiefest and Twitter ethics than they are on the Casino postings? Just sayin….
October 6th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I know what you thought. They don’t have homes, they don’t have jobs, what do they need the top of a muffin for? They’re lucky to get the stumps.
-Rebecca Demore
She said she doesn’t want the Snuggies either.
October 6th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
@c. the impaler–perhaps the snuggies would be better directed to a cold weather sit-in on Delaware Ave?
October 6th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I just want to drink beer in a blanket. Who’s with me?!?! Byahhhhhh!
October 6th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Really, I think tips deserves his pick of the used snuggie’s before they go to Project HOME. Payment for all the publicity he is giving this (non)event and Custom media labs really, I know we all read philebs to avoid our jobs, but really, if this many of you have nothing to do over the course of two days but argue with a blog, then please let me know if your hiring.
October 6th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I’ll wear a Slanket in protest.
October 6th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
it’s official. October 6, 2009 is now forever to be known as “Snuggie-Fight Day”. whatever happened to getting shitfaced at a bar or two just because you like getting shitfaced? Who needs these artificial reasons for drinking? not I…that’s for sure. Though drinking a beer in a blanket does sound nice.
Question: what would be the best beer to consume in a snuggie? I’m thinking either something insanely mass-produced and over advertised (Michelob Ultra?) or perhaps go the opposite route for full incongruence…a Koekelaring perhaps or some other obscure belgian…hmm…
*posted from a Penn computer*
October 6th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
@rk
Bud Light Lime
October 6th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Blue Moon would do nicely, too.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:42 am
I’d go with one of the faux-microbrews, like the Shock Top wheat beer, which is really from Michaelob (and sucks). It tries to look edgy and original, but is really just a marketing ploy by a major corporation.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Y’all are just falling for the biggest troll Jojo has ever pulled. This is so hilarious…
October 7th, 2009 at 10:15 am
This is repulsive.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahaha!
October 8th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
I think I have come up with my Halloween costume… finally.