Marketing the Ugly Christmas Sweater Craze

The Ugly Christmas Sweater craze is far from over. It's gone from a grassroots movement to mainstream marketing, as shown above in an Instagram post by Madame Tussauds. Here, the aim was to promote a fundraiser, Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day (the British "jumper" translates as "sweater" for Americans). Note the over-the-top couples sweater worn by the wax versions of Prince William and his beautiful bride Kate.

Now a holiday tradition, ugly Christmas sweaters are everywhere. Making waves in Vermont, serving as the theme for pub crawls and beer tastings in Chicago, making fundraising fun through celeb-designed sweaters (see sweater at right, by Shaquille O'Neal). 

One enterprising company invites customers to "design your own" ugly sweater. Click to Ugly Christmas Sweater and see for yourself.

There are a LOT of really interesting, really ugly sweaters out there. Pop culture influences customer behavior and gets woven into the fabric of marketing! Pun intended.