Viral video prompts Patti LaBelle’s sweet potato pies to sell out at Walmart
With Black Friday one week away, perhaps Walmart should consider making Patti LaBelle’s sweet potato pies a doorbuster deal.
The chain is suddenly finding itself struggling to keep the sweet treats on its shelves because of a viral video. Last Thursday, James Write Chanel posted quite the enthusiastic review on YouTube about the pie as seen here:
The three-minute video is something! After Chanel struggles to open the box (joking that it’s sealed with Gorilla Glue), he finally digs in and wails in a soulful manner about the pie. “You turn into Patti after eating this,” Chanel sings.
Not surprisingly, the weirdly mesmerizing video went viral, racking up 2.3 million views, and Walmart can’t keep up demand with it. It’s sold out online, too. At one point earlier this week, the pies were selling roughly one every second, prompting Walmart to release a statement saying it’s “working as hard as possible” to restock its shelves.
“We need something like 2 million pounds of sweet potatoes, and that’s not something easy to get,” a Walmart spokeswoman said in a statement. Prior to this, Walmart described the pie’s sales as just “OK” when it came out in September.
The demand has sparked a black market for Labelle’s pies online, which normally retail for $4 each. One posting on eBay is selling 10 pies for $250, with shipping in time for Thanksgiving.
Images via Shutterstock and Walmart.
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