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A 30-second Super Bowl ad spot can easily set a company back millions of dollars, which is why it should come as no surprise that some businesses are turning to alternative methods to engage with audiences.
Ketchup maverick Kraft Heinz has announced that in lieu of a multimillion dollar ad for the Super Bowl, they’ll instead be giving their salaried employees the day off following the big game. In fact, the company is taking this Super Bowl stunt so seriously that they created a change.org petition to “Make the Monday after the ‘Big Game’ a National Holiday,” which has garnered 11,087 supporters so far. There’s also a personalized hashtag — #smunday, if you’re so inclined to use it.
The petition notes that: “Statistics show over 16 million people call in sick or just don’t show up to work. And for those that do, productivity plummets so far that the country loses on average around $1 billion (true story).”
However, Kraft Heinz’s bold move hasn’t come without its share of detractors. According to Bloomberg, all of Heinz’s employees will not receive the vacation day of Thursday.
Watch Kraft Heinz make a case for Smunday below.
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Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com