Viral Good: Ironic Reviews Boost Tee Shirt Sales

Jokes reviews on Amazon have massively boosted the sales of a kitsch tee shirt, turning it into a best seller.

It’s viral marketing in action. Ironic, joking reviews of a tee shirt on Amazon have boosted its sales by 2,300%, turning it into the sites best-selling piece of clothing, according to the BBC.

It all began when someone wrote a review of the very kitsch Three Wolves Moon short, saying it "fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women" but "cannot see wolves with arms crossed."

For no obvious reason, that prompted plenty of others, numbering in the hundreds, to post their own humorous reviews, turning the shirt’s page into an Internet phenomenon reminiscent of Rickrolling (when everything turned to ‘80s pop singer Rick Astley).

According to Amazon senior manager of community content, Russell Dicker, the shirt has since become the site’s best-selling item of clothing:

"The Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt recently moved up 2,300% in sales rank. We are grateful that our reviewers are so passionate."

Not everyone is so happy, however. You’d think the manufacturers would be grateful, but their posting on Amazon makes it apparent that they’re not:

"The Mountain is a wholesale company and does not sell shirts on Amazon, so this viral assault went under our radar until the shirt made it into the top 10 in the Amazon apparel section."

"We appreciate humor as much as the next company, but we don’t approve of some of the remarks.”

"Not everyone can start out at the top and not everyone from our neck of the woods lives in a trailer or cruises Walmart to hook up."