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Why This Company Sent Poop to 30,000 People for Black Friday

3 minute read

Christmas came early this year for 30,000 people who received a box of poop in the mail last week.

The sleekly designed box filled with actual excrement came courtesy of Cards Against Humanity, a fill-in-the-blank party game where players try to one up each other with phrase cards ranging from merely politically incorrect to legitimately disgusting. Costing $6 a pop, the special offer was a part of the stunt-loving company’s Black Friday sale.

“We all really hate Black Friday, it’s just kind of a horrible day,” says game co-creator Max Temkin. “It comes after this day where you’re supposed to be thankful for what you have, and then it’s just this whole huge media spectacle of people fighting each other to save $50 on a TV.”

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And so Cards Against Humanity decided to create a media spectacle of its own by pulling all of its products off its site and only selling “Bullshit” — which Temkin says sold out in less than two hours. (This isn’t the company’s first stunt — for last year’s Black Friday, the game was sold for $5 above the normal price.)
“We also had the idea of issuing people a one penny off coupon, but that felt weird because it was still a deal,” he says. “That’s sort of still doing Black Friday.”

But how did the makers of Cards Against Humanity get the poop in the box? “Well, we didn’t do anything that anyone else couldn’t have done,” Temkins says. “We went on Google and were like, ‘Can you buy bullshit? Can you sell bullshit?'”

The team found a cattle ranch in Texas that sold pasteurized bull feces for shipments and understood “what we were trying to do.”

Writing on the package boasts that while the box was made in China — “It’s the same manufacturer that does packaging for Apple!” Temkin says — the poop was made in America.

And now, says Temkins, “It’s sent, it’s out, it’s done… Initially we got a dozen people who were really surprised it was poop, but it was just actual poop.”

LAist journalists broke the poop apart to see if there was hidden inside, only to find that it was simply feces.

While the promotion is over, some people are even selling their “Bullshit” packages at a 600% markup of $36 on eBay.

Cards Against Humanity made 20 cents on each $6 box of holiday bullshit. The profits will go to Heifer International, a charity that aims to eradicate poverty and hunger by providing livestock to developing communities.

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Employees collect merchandise ordered by customers for shipment from the Amazon.com distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012.
Employees collect merchandise ordered by customers for shipment from the Amazon.com distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images
A worker collects order items at the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on Nov. 28, 2013.
A worker collects order items at the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on Nov. 28, 2013.Andrew Yates—AFP/Getty Images
Merchandise sits on shelves before shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012.
Merchandise sits on shelves before shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov. 26, 2012. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images
An employee packs merchandise for shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in Phoenix, Arizona, Dec. 2, 2013.
An employee packs merchandise for shipment at the Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in Phoenix, Arizona, Dec. 2, 2013. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images
BRITAIN-US-RETAIL-COMPANY-AMAZON
A picture shows the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on November 28, 2013, ahead of Cyber Monday on December 2nd, expected to be one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.Andrew Yates—AFP/Getty Images
BRITAIN-US-RETAIL-COMPANY-AMAZON
An employee packs orders in the Fulfilment Centre for online retail giant Amazon in Peterborough, central England, on November 28, 2013, ahead of Cyber Monday on December 2nd, expected to be one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.Andrew Yates—AFP/Getty Images
Inside An Amazon.com Distribution Center On Cyber Monday
Employee Maria Miller loads boxes onto a conveyer belt for shipping at the Amazon.com Inc. distribution center in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Interior view of the hall of a logistics center of the online shopping company Amazon, taken on March 26, 2014 in Leipzig, eastern Germany.
Interior view of the hall of a logistics center of the online shopping company Amazon, taken on March 26, 2014 in Leipzig, eastern Germany. Peter Ending—AFP/Getty Images
Packages sit in regional delivery dividers ahead of distribution at the Amazon.co.uk Marston Gate 'Fulfillment Center,' the U.K. site of Amazon.com Inc. in Ridgmont, United Kingdom, Dec. 3, 2012.
Packages sit in regional delivery dividers ahead of distribution at the Amazon.co.uk Marston Gate 'Fulfillment Center,' the U.K. site of Amazon.com Inc. in Ridgmont, United Kingdom, Dec. 3, 2012. Simon Dawson—Bloomberg/Getty Images

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