Sonic Buried a Branded Merchandise Promotion at the End of a 9-Minute Video of a Guy Eating (and It Still Sold Out)

You know how people stay until the end of a movie, mostly Marvel movies, just in case there’s a fun post-credits bonus scene?

That practice generally doesn’t carry over to fast food commercials.

But if you’re able to watch a nine-minute video of a guy eating a Fritos Chili Cheese Jr. Wrap to the end, you’ll be rewarded with the news that Sonic was selling a giant fleece wrap for only 99 cents.

We just did you a favor so uou don’t have to watch the whole video. But, in case you really want to, check it out:

Did you watch the whole thing? Now, at this point, having watched possibly the most boring and excruciatingly long piece of cinema since “The Da Vinci Code,” it’s our duty to tell you that they are sold out.

Sorry.

But, it’s not all bad! There are still some lessons to glean from this. One is that a promotional campaign that uses social media and video alongside physical branded merchandise is a good way to spread the word and potentially go viral.

The other is that, as we’ve seen time and time again, people will buy just about anything with their favorite fast food chain’s name on it. This thing is sold out! There are no more! There are people in this world, maybe in your own neighborhood, who are wrapping themselves up in this Sonic-branded Fritos chili wrap fleece wrap. They’re loving it. They spent money on this. Not a lot of money, mind you, but money nonetheless.

And now we’re at the point where Sonic is asking fans to post pictures of themselves in the wrap. Do you know what we call that? Promotional products marketing. This ticks every box of a solid promo campaign: Viral hype, interesting branded product with long shelf life, shareability. Boom. Checkmate, Sonic.

We're still not watching the whole video, though.