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Spirit Halloween Issues Barbed Response to ‘SNL’ Parody

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Adventuresportsnetwork.com 

Spirit Halloween issued a surprising response to Saturday Night Live’s sketch parodying the well-known seasonal superstore on last weekend’s 50th season premiere.

The sketch in question is a fairly routine SNL commercial parody which positions Spirit as a Habitat for Humanity-esque organization that sweeps into devastated American towns to boost the economy…but only for six weeks each year.

“When others leave, we show up,” a Spirit employee intones in voiceover. “We don’t see a dead-end town. We don’t see an abandoned K-Mart. We see a Spirit, a Spirit Halloween,” the ad continues. “Thanks to us, what used to be a condemned AutoZone where a murder happened is once again a thriving business…where a murder happened."

According to SNL, Spirit Halloween provides “vulnerable communities with the things they need most: wigs that give you a rash, single-use fog machines, and costumes of famous characters tweaked just enough to avoid a lawsuit."

Surprisingly, Spirit issued an incredibly barbed response to the parody in which they called the venerable sketch show “irrelevant.” The company retweeted the sketch with the caption, “We are great at raising things from the dead, @nbcsnl,” alongside a hastily photoshopped picture of an “Irrelevant 50-Year-Old TV Show” costume. The packaging reads: “Includes dated references, unknown cast members, shrinking ratings.”

What specifically upset Spirit about the commercial parody is unclear, as it’s fairly benign by SNL standards. Neither the show nor NBC have responded to Spirit’s jabs. Although it's worth nothing that the store's response follows a well-worn meme format that produces parody costumes using its branding. 

A temporary Halloween store calling anything “irrelevant” is certainly bold, but the brand couldn’t have picked a less opportune time to lash out at Saturday Night Live. In addition to the buzz surrounding its milestone anniversary, the season 50 debut posted the show’s biggest viewing numbers for a premiere episode since 2020. Adding to the show’s cultural moment is Jason Reitman’s film Saturday Night, a well-reviewed biopic about the mounting of SNL’s 1975 pilot episode. It debuted in New York and Los Angeles last weekend to strong figures, and will roll out nationwide on Oct. 11.

SNL also draws particularly strong viewership during election years, and this season’s revolving door of guest stars all but guarantees a buzzy run for at least for the next five weeks—roughly seven days after Spirit packs up and skips town.