A Company Said They Would Give Out Free Swimsuits And It Backfired

A swimsuit company in the US is facing the prospect of having to give away tens of thousands of free swimsuits after a promotion on Instagram spectacularly backfired.

View image on Twitter

On Thursday, Sunny Co Clothing announced a 24-hour giveaway: Anyone in the US who reposted an image of a model in a swimsuit and tagged Sunny Co would be sent a code to receive a $64.99 swimsuit for free, paying only shipping and handling.

To say the promo went well would be an understatement – more than 100,000 people commented on the Instagram post, and there are thousands of reposts on Instagram from people trying to get a suit.

To say the promo went well would be an understatement – more than 100,000 people commented on the Instagram post, and there are thousands of reposts on Instagram from people trying to get a suit.

Thousands of people were trying to cash in on the deal.

networking bizz website experts - 1

Instagram

About 20 hours after launching the promotion Sunny Co updated the terms, adding it can “reserve the right to cap the promotion if deemed necessary.”

Sunny Co said that this was due to the 'viral volume of participants'.Participants were also told that their swimsuits would take from three to six weeks to be delivered; that they would have to cover delivery costs; and no exchanges or returns were allowed.

instagram.com

Sunny Co said that this was due to the “viral volume of participants”.

Participants were also told that their swimsuits would take from three to six weeks to be delivered; that they would have to cover delivery costs; and no exchanges or returns were allowed.

And then the memes began to roll in:

View image on Twitter

View image on Twitter

-“this how girls gon be this summer after this sunnycoclothing giveaway”

The swimsuit giveaway got so viral, multiple Twitter accounts renowned for stealing tweets got in on the act.

-“Sneak peek summer ’17”

Then, a bunch of copycat social media accounts popped up, essentially scamming people into flooding the actual Sunny Co Instagram with bizarre requests to follow a Snapchat page.

networking bizz website experts - 2

The company was started by two dudes, Alan Alchalel and Brady Silverwood, who are both seniors at the University of Arizona, according to the company’s About page.

The company sells shirts, skirts, swimming costumes, and fanny packs.

sunnycoclothing.com

The company sells shirts, skirts, swimming costumes, and fanny packs.

People have been angrily flooding the one of the founders on Facebook, as well as the company’s official Instagram, asking for their money back. Some say they ordered the swimsuit, entered the promo code, and were told they would be charged for postage and handling, but when they received confirmation of their order it showed they had paid full price.

networking bizz website experts - 3

networking bizz website experts - 4

BuzzFeed News spoke to several women who said they purchased the swimsuit using the “SUNNY” promo code. All of them provided screenshots to show they were charged the full price for the swimsuit instead of just the $12.98 for shipping.

networking bizz website experts - 5
networking bizz website experts - 6

All the women said they had sent messages to the company on multiple social media platforms but had received no reply.

networking bizz website experts - 7
Facebook
networking bizz website experts - 8

One of the women said a spokesperson for Twazer App – which sponsored the giveaway – told her the company was flooded with orders, but would reach out to her, adding that “everything will be sorted out”.

networking bizz website experts - 9

Instagram

The Pamela Sunny Suit is now marked as sold out on the site.

networking bizz website experts - 10

A spokesperson for Twazer told BuzzFeed News that SunnyCo is aware of the problem and are working to “ensure that everyone is charged appropriately for their purchases.”

“We’re both young companies and are a bit overwhelmed by the immense amount of interest in the product,” the spokesperson said.

“We’re very grateful to have such an amazing customer base and pledge to work with SunnyCo to ensure that all customers are charged what they should be and not more.”

BuzzFeed News has contacted Sunny Co for comment.