Hooters’ Response to Sydney Sweeney’s Boob-Centric ‘SNL’ Appearance Was Even Less Subtle Than The Show Itself
When Saturday Night Live features a well-endowed woman host, the show will, inevitably, turn a low-cut top into an entire four-minute sketch. It’s the same concept that causes a corporation to capitalize on free publicity by begging for more free publicity – when an easy opportunity presents itself, a true capitalist milks it dry.
This past weekend, the SNL writers blessed Sydney Sweeney fans with the breast jokes they could scrounge from 20-year-old scripts. As many commentators have noted in the days since Sweeney’s much-anticipated episode aired, her lukewarmly received stint leading the sketch show featured a stock skit that’s been repainted every time the current young, curvy “It Girl” gets the hosting gig. In this familiar SNL scene that has featured Lindsay Lohan, Katy Perry and now Sweeney in the starring role, the physically gifted guest wears a shirt that shows off her boobs and the rest of the cast makes a grand display of looking at them. End sketch. Cue uproarious laughter from Studio 8H.
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In a turn of events as predictable as the punchlines in this past Saturday’s “Hooters Waitress” skit, Sweeney’s role as a ditzy server in a skimpy outfit was the most popular scene of the evening, garnering millions of views across SNL's social media platforms. Meanwhile, the male-centric restaurant chain joined the internet's hordes of horny teenaged boys in begging the Euphoria star not to put away the cleavage-heavy costume just yet – the Hooters Twitter page implored Sweeney to wear the uniform at one of their actual restaurants “for charity” with all the sincerity of a Hooters customer saying they spend every Friday night at the PG titty bar “for the hot wings.”
To be clear, I'm not trying to downplay the work of the V Foundation, which was founded by the legendary late college basketball coach and broadcaster Jim Valvano. I'm just saying that maybe Hooters had bigger motivations than cancer research when they made a public request to one of the most popular stars in the country right after her chest gave them ample marketing for free. I mean, if Hooters actually thought that Sweeney would ever want to serve beer and appetizers to innocuous perverts while wearing half a shirt, wouldn't they just contact one of her representatives? It's not like Sony booked her on Madame Web by tweeting about it.
Cynically speaking, simply making the offer accomplishes Hooters' goal of gaining good press for zero investment and keeping their name in the conversation about Sweeney's SNL appearance. It's an easy, low-effort crowd pleaser of a publicity stunt that keeps their brand close to Sweeney's chest – and it works. The time it takes to figure this scheme out is roughly the same as the short trip our eyes take from the thumbnail to the view count on the SNL YouTube page.
