ABC News - as well as a host of other news outlets – has a story about how “for the past three weeks, 7-Eleven has transformed 12 of its convenience stores into caricatures of the Kwik-E-Mart widely recognized as a staple of the cartoon family's fictional town, as part of a promotion for the soon-to-be-released ‘The Simpsons Movie.’ The stores have been carrying boxes of KrustyO's cereal, Buzz Cola, pink doughnuts and special edition ‘Radioactive Man’ comic books. The convenience store also renamed its Slurpee frozen drinks ‘Squishees’.”
According to the story, “Fans of the hit TV show seem to be jumping at the chance to buy the other once-fictional products. The number of customers to walk through the doors at these special stores has roughly doubled, as have sales, according to the company.
“Since the promotion started July 2, more than 960,000 cans of Buzz Cola have been guzzled up.
“Maybe fans were washing down their pink ‘Sprinklicious’ doughnuts, the type favored by Homer Simpson. The convenience store chain has sold more than 880,400 of the doughnuts nationally in the past three weeks.
“The company has also sold 1.1 million Simpsons' Squishee-Slurpee cups.
“In total, the convenience store chain has sold more than 3.4 million units of Simpsons merchandise and generated 64.3 million clicks on its Web site, through Sunday. The promotion ends July 31.”
According to the story, “Fans of the hit TV show seem to be jumping at the chance to buy the other once-fictional products. The number of customers to walk through the doors at these special stores has roughly doubled, as have sales, according to the company.
“Since the promotion started July 2, more than 960,000 cans of Buzz Cola have been guzzled up.
“Maybe fans were washing down their pink ‘Sprinklicious’ doughnuts, the type favored by Homer Simpson. The convenience store chain has sold more than 880,400 of the doughnuts nationally in the past three weeks.
“The company has also sold 1.1 million Simpsons' Squishee-Slurpee cups.
“In total, the convenience store chain has sold more than 3.4 million units of Simpsons merchandise and generated 64.3 million clicks on its Web site, through Sunday. The promotion ends July 31.”
- KC's View:
- I’m not surprised. “The Simpsons” has gone from being a slightly subversive animated series to becoming an American icon. I’ve never been a fan, and haven’t seen more than a few minutes of a couple of episodes in the 18 years that it has been on the air…and even I want to see the movie.
