Power to the Peeps!
A few years ago, a friend of mine designed a necklace that featured a Marshmallow Peeps snugly nestled in a small coffin. The cease-and-desist letter from the Peeps attorneys arrived just as soon as the necklace appeared in a David LaChappelle fashion shoot.
What prompted this remembrance? Well, first it’s Easter. And because of that, the Web’s again rapidly filling up with all kinds of peeps-mods. BoingBoing has long lead the charge. Just two examples are here and here.
Citizen Web sites devote considerable online real estate to peep shows, and a Milwaukee gallery has been running a peep art exhibition for three years now.
Of course, “peeps” is a Flickr tag, too.
I don’t have any figures, but I’ll bet all this peepsing piques plenty of interest in the sticky little fowl, not to mention sparks plenty of sales well beyond the company’s target demos.
I’m also willing to bet the company has ceased and desisted with the cease-and-desists. CGM can indeed hatch new markets — if you can just allow yourself to relax.