Three Wolf Moon

About

Three Wolf Moon is the name of a “power animal” t-shirt that was ironically made into one of the top selling apparel items on Amazon in 2009, thanks to thousands of internet users who hyped it up with hilarious, tongue-in-cheek customer reviews. Befitting its widespread reputation, the shirt is so virile and mesmerizing that you probably shouldn’t look at it in a direct angle.

Origin

Three Wolf Moon t-shirt was designed by Bulgarian artist Antonia Neschev^[1] and produced by a New Hampshire-based company called The Mountain, who produce a variety of nature-oriented graphic tees. The Amazon product^[2] page’s traffic began taking off in early 2009 after a reviewer named Brian Govern posted a hilarious customer review, which hailed the T-shirt as a magical product:

Excerpt:

Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women.

Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the ‘guns’), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.

Spread

Beginning in early May 2009, Amazon users took notice of B.Govern’s comments and began posting similar reviews in facetious tone. Others uploaded fake customer images of celebrities donning the t-shirt on Flickr.^[3] Within weeks, the Amazon product page was featured on popular blogs and social networks like Digg^[4] and Facebook^[5], as well as mainstream outlets like ABC News^[6] and BBC^[7], further amplifying the t-shirt’s mythology. Following its extensive mainstream coverage in May and June, The Mountain reported a 2300% surge in sales of Three Wolf Moon t-shirts.^[8]

Notable Images

Tribute M/V

On May 26th, 2009, Dr. Coolsex posted the Three Wolf Moon music video^[9] on YouTube, a parody of “Colors of The Wind” from Disney’s Pocahontas soundtrack.

College Humor Parody

On November 19th, 2009, a short comedy skit parodying the TV show Twilight and the Amazon’s best-selling t-shirt debuted on CollegeHumor.com^[11], featuring actress Aubrey Plaza.

Customer Review Comedy

Three Wolf Moon is an example of “Customer Review Comedy” which occurs when funny customer reviews for an online shopping product go viral. Customer uploaded images are another means of exploitation. There are certain examples that could be considered memes themselves, but they are really instances of the larger phenomenon.

This grouping of memetic Amazon items has spread to Youtube, and inspired a video posted to BuzzFeed^[10] on May 26th, 2009. The video focuses primarily on Three Wolf Moon but also makes reference to Tuscan Whole Milk.

Parody Designs

In the following months, a slew of parodies and tributes to the original Three Wolf Moon t-shirt design began to circulate on the microblogging service Tumblr, featuring various pop culture icons, celebrities and videogame characters.

Search Interest

External References