Seasonal op-up retailer Spirit Halloween hit back Saturday Night Live Earlier this week, just days after the comedy series aired a pre-recorded mock commercial that suggested the costume shop was taking over failing, abandoned storefronts and breathing new life into economically hard-hit communities – but only for six weeks before it resumed got on his feet.

The two-minute-plus skit also poked fun at Spirit Halloween’s shoddy offerings, including “disposable smoke machines” and “famous character costumes customized just enough to avoid a lawsuit.”

On Monday, Spirit Halloween returned the favor, posting a fake ad for an “SNL 50” costume on social media. It pointed out that it was an “irrelevant 50-year-old TV show” and had “dated references, unknown actors” and “declining ratings.”

It was like free advertising…twice

One could argue that “Spirit Halloween” has received the kind of publicity that money can’t buy – at least not cheaply. While the mock advertisement was far from flattering, it was already essentially similar to free advertising on the popular comedy show.

The costume shop’s response also went viral, both on social media, where it was reposted and seen nearly a million times, and in mainstream media news reports. NBC News, diversity, People, USA today and Kotaku are just a few of the media outlets that have since reported news of the SNL skit and Spirit Halloween’s snarky post.

“We’ll have to wait and see how this impacts foot traffic and sales. But this kind of national brand awareness is very difficult to generate on your own. So it will benefit the company,” said social media analyst Greg Sterling, founder of Near Media.

“That’s not to say a clever social media campaign wouldn’t have gone viral. However, they are much more likely to attract attention,” Sterling added. “When something like this happens, brands have to be ready to take advantage of the joke or meme and exploit it, which it seems they did in some ways.”

The timing of the SNL skit and the pop-up shop response comes just as Halloween shopping is in full swing. Last year, Americans were expected to spend more than $12.2 billion during the spooky holiday season, including $4.1 billion on costumes and another $3.9 billion on decorations, according to a BBC report .

Only Christmas sees higher sales, and spending on Halloween has been steadily increasing in recent years – and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Could controversy hurt a retailer?

Although SNL’s mock ad suggests that the products sold by Spirit Halloween are anything but high quality, the fact remains that Halloween costumes tend to be somewhat disposable. Instead of attempting to address everything the skit suggested, Spirit Halloween instead voiced its criticism of the state of the comedy show.

“Creating controversy actually creates visibility for the brand, and since Spirit Halloween is a pop-up store that has only been up for a few weeks, that visibility is important for them to drive store traffic,” said Rob Enderle, technology industry analyst at Enderle Group.

“However, if this controversy damages trust in the store, the opposite could also happen,” Enderle added. “So they have to consider the interest to get people into the stores without emphasizing the negative part of the SNL meme. Using humor to point out that SNL is also vulnerable was an interesting move that piqued that interest without doing any additional brand damage.”

As a result, the skit and perfectly timed response could further boost sales this season.

“SNL has a much broader reach than Spirit Halloween,” Enderle noted. “So this should be far more effective than if they had ignored the SNL sketch and run a more traditional campaign.”

Social media response could be the most effective way to kick off the 2024 Halloween season and set the bar high for next year.

“In some ways, this is powerful product placement because it promotes physical activity and viral marketing through social media,” said Susan Schreiner, consumer technology and social media analyst at C4 Trends. “It seems like a well-orchestrated marketing campaign that hits all the necessary touchpoints to drive traffic or sell a product. This is a great model for companies and communicators – when it comes to putting together a successful viral campaign for a cool or scary product, event or venue.