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Hi, Dad! Dockers wants in on the cargo shorts debate

Your dad’s favorite pants company has gotten wind of the Great Cargo Shorts Debate of 2016: Dockers has mobilized its pleated-front social media team and is launching a #TeamCargo and #CargoFriday Twitter campaign today.

“Here at Dockers, we support your right to cargo! We get it — guys have a lot to carry and the more pockets the better, always,” said a press release about the campaign. The brand is tweeting out pictures of the “great styles” at Dockers and encouraging people to tweet their support for cargo shorts.

It’s a bit of not-quite-real-time marketing: The debate peaked nearly two weeks ago, when The Wall Street Journal published a story last Monday titled “Nice Cargo Shorts! You’re Sleeping On the Sofa,” a look at why both women and fashionably minded men look upon cargo shorts with scorn. The story by reporter Nicole Hong stirred fervent debate on social media, with celebrities like Judd Apatow to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler getting in on it. The Wall Street Journal’s own newsroom also held a mini cargo-shorts fest of its own last Friday.

Digiday reported that there were almost 6,000 social posts about shorts a few days after the story. We anxiously await the sequel on the merits of jorts.

 

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