Get a Coupon for Showing Your Co-Workers Your Underwear

Social media and coupons are a great combination for companies. But for consumers, it can be a little more complicated. Do you really want to hit “like” and let all of your friends know what kind of deodorant or toilet paper you prefer, just to get access to a coupon on Facebook?

Well, that’s nothing. How about letting your co-workers know what kind of underwear you’re wearing? And that you got it for free?

TMI…!

Underwear maker Fruit of the Loom has launched an unusual freebie-and-coupon marketing effort with LinkedIn, the more buttoned-up, corporate version of Facebook. You don’t ordinarily see coupon offers on LinkedIn, because you don’t ordinarily share with your professional contacts what kind of deodorant you like. But Fruit of the Loom hopes to persuade you to make mention of your unmentionables.

In a promotion that launched this week, Fruit of the Loom is scouring LinkedIn, looking for users who have recently reported that they’ve gotten a new job. Every week for the next five weeks, 5,000 eligible users will get a surprise message from Fruit of the Loom: “We’re all excited for you about the new gig. To show this, we’re hooking you up with a complimentary pair of Fruit of the Loom. Because great-fitting underwear can help you start your workday in a great mood.”

If you accept the offer, you get to choose what kind of underwear you’d like, then you get the opportunity to share the news and tell your entire LinkedIn network about your skivvies (“Never mind the new job, everyone – I just got free undies!!”) A couple of weeks later, a box shows up at your door, along with a coupon for $5 off your next Fruit of the Loom purchase.

Not bad, for an offer you didn’t even have to seek out. Of course, some people prefer to find their own deals, rather than have deals find them – the idea that an underwear company knows where you work and would like you to tell your new co-workers about the free and discounted underthings you scored, might strike some as a bit disconcerting. Besides, do we really want to know what our co-workers are wearing under their business suits and skirts? And whether your male co-workers prefer boxers, briefs or – er – bikini briefs?

Fruit of the Loom says it’s all in good fun, and there’s a method to its madness. “The underwear you put on in the morning has the power to set the tone for your entire day,” the company asserted in a news release announcing the program, which “celebrates the power of positive underwear and the difference it can make.” The LinkedIn promotion is meant to remind those who are getting a “fresh start” in their career, about how important it is to get a “fresh start” when they get dressed in the morning. “We want America to start with the right pair of underwear, putting on confidence and positivity one leg at a time,” Fruit of the Loom’s Senior Vice President of Brand Management Scott Greene said.

And if the 25,000 people who get free underwear and coupons in the mail decide to share their good fortune with their friends and co-workers, all the better – for Fruit of the Loom.

So consider that, the next time you debate whether to “like” a company on Facebook, just to get a coupon. On LinkedIn, a company wants to get in your pants – and brag to your co-workers about it. Maybe those simple Facebook “likes” aren’t so bad after all.

Image source: Fruit of the Loom