America is truly the home of the free and the land of the guerilla marketing experts. Not too long ago a guerilla marketing company put up lighted flashing signs of a cartoon character in random spots in a couple of large American cities causing a panic. Instead of people wanting to turn on their televisions and watch the cartoon being advertised, the blinking devices caused fear and panic as rumor started to circulate that they were bombs scattered throughout the cities of America ready to bring our infrastructure down. Of course the first question that rational people asked is if they were bombs why would the bomb makers make them stand out with blinking lights in the form of a cartoon character? This line of logic was quickly dismissed in favor of all out panic and soon the bomb squads were called to diffuse the potential dangers. In the end it was discovered that they were indeed just little light up signs done for a guerilla marketing campaign but when there were finally shown to the public it really could be understood why a country that is routinely running for its life might think that these were actually bombs. That is an example of a guerilla marketing campaign gone horribly wrong. In August 2003 the Freshpair underwear company started a guerilla marketing campaign that can only be described as one gone horribly right.

Since August 2003 the Freshpair underwear company has decreed one day in August to be National Underwear Day where they encourage people to celebrate their underwear and revel in the beauty that is underwear. The company even goes so far as to insist that many people usually coordinate their underwear to match their other clothing so it is only natural that underwear get their own day in the sun. The Freshpair underwear company takes a whole group of beautiful male and female models out to Manhattan in New York City and parade these models around and call it National Underwear Day. The Freshpair company wants National Underwear Day to be considered like a hippie gathering in the 1960’s where everyone just got together to celebrate what is natural. The problem with National Underwear Day is that the average American does not look like a model and the average pair of underwear does not look like it just came out of the package. Granted there is probably nothing wrong with parading attractive models around in their underwear all day but to call in National Underwear Day is about as accurate as calling Tax Day in April a day all Americans look forward to.

Let’s call National Underwear Day what it really is. National Underwear Day is an attempt by an underwear manufacturer to associate their product with the “beautiful people look” because they know that Americans will buy products that they think will make them look more beautiful. If Americans see a bunch of models parading around in Freshpair underwear on National Underwear Day then they may be more apt to buy a pair of Freshpair underwear. It is the same thing as convincing guys to smoke by using a rough looking cowboy as the image associated with smoking. National Underwear Day is a great marketing scheme that gets a little national attention and that is about all the bare facts really deserve.