In the last few years, we’ve seen massive growth in the hard seltzer category. The success of White Claw, combined with declining sales in other alcohol categories, attributed partially to broke and “sober curious” millennials, beer and bubly water brands jumped on the bandwagon like Bud Light, Cuervo, and Topo Chico. Even recording artist Travis Scott has a piece of the spiked seltzer game with his Cacti line.
It was only a matter of time before the hard seltzer craze would become fodder for a comedy sketch on NBC’s long-running Saturday Night Live. In a digital short featuring a trio of new writers that also contains the comedy group Please Don’t Destroy, the spiked seltzer craze gets lampooned, starting with a JCPenny branded hard seltzer and then a Jiffy Lube line. Things get even more absurd as the sketch continues, including a dentist’s hard seltzer, and finally, the writer’s desk gets in on the fizzy water booze game.
Please Don’t Destroy’s delivery was aided in part by the convincing and expertly designed packaging that served as props in the digital short. JC Penny’s is a minimal mall-inspired affair, recreating the department store’s signage on a plain, off-white background. The Jiffy Lube outer box has all the hallmarks of the quick-service chain with the fun addition of bubbles in the background.
Small blink-and-you-miss-them details like the JC Penny label’s has copy along the bottom reading “Spiked sparkling water infused with a hint of cotton,” and Dr. Riccardi’s Spiked Tea is “Routine Cleaning” flavored. The minimal white background and typographical choice for desk hard seltzer make it a believable-looking spiked sparkling water.
Is reaching SNL parody-worthiness a sign of end times for the seltzer craze? Perhaps they haven’t jumped the shark as of yet, but in the meantime, grab me a can of JCP, will ya?
