Kraft Heinz is hoping to get a little attention this Super Bowl Sunday without running a commercial during the big game.
The mega food company is giving all of their salaried employees off on the Monday after Super Bowl LI. The brand claims that more than 16 million people call in sick the day after the game, causing an overall loss of around $1 billion.
“We were inspired by a conversation that we know everyone watching the game is already having,” Nicole Kulwicki, head of Heinz Brands, told Today.
Kraft Heinz is hoping their day off will set a trend within other companies. The company even started an online petition to make Monday, or “Smunday,” a national holiday. If the petition reaches over 100,000 signatures, Kraft Heinz plans on sending it to Congress to hopefully make it an official holiday.
“If we can make Big Game Sunday awesome, we can make the Monday after awesome too. Make that Monday more like Sunday,” Kraft Heinz wrote on their petition.
While Kraft Heinz day off sounds like a great idea, it doesn’t apply to their entire staff. Only salaried workers are getting the day off, leaving hourly workers to run the show.
“It seems a little unfair, if they’re giving the day off to their white-collared workers, but not their hourly employees,” Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer said in the video above.
According to CNBC, a 30-second ad will set a company back around $5 million dollars.
Kraft Heinz is hoping the buzz around their day off will make up for their lack of screen time during the big game.
“The Heinz brand believes in never settling for less than the best and Americans shouldn’t settle for a horrible Monday after one of the best sports days of the year,” Kulwicki said to Today.
Hopefully this stunt will pay off for Kraft Heinz. Last year, the food company had one of the best ads featuring a group of dachshund running though an open field. Check it out below.
