Eager Duck fans swarmed the Duck Store yesterday to buy T-shirts emblazoned with “I love my Ducks,” the name of the popular song by comedy rap group Supwitchugirl.
Selling for $12 in-store and online, the shirts hit the bookstore at 2 p.m. yesterday. Word spread quickly after Supwitchugirl, the comedy rap group composed of three University seniors, announced it on their group’s Facebook page, and two and a half hours later, the bookstore had sold roughly 4,000 T-shirts.
“They threw the boxes out there, opened them up and said go for it,” said Supwitchugirl member Jamie Slade.
Duck Store general manager Jim Williams said the shirts have not even been distributed to other Duck Store locations yet. He said he expects to sell 12,000 to 16,000 more in the coming days.
Williams said bookstore employees were interested in creating the shirts as soon as they became aware of the song.
“We saw the video and were taken by the creativity and the theme,” Williams said. “It’s a wonderful, wonderful slogan.”
Williams said the only problem was the shirt had to be approved by the University Office of Marketing and Brand Management, which is where the plan stalled last week. But on Monday the design was finally approved — and the bookstore was prepared.
“We were ready to go,” Williams said. “It was about 1 or 2 p.m. when we got the OK. That’s how quickly we turned it around.”
The “I Love My Ducks” video has seen its fair share of controversy since it debuted because of the unlicensed use of the Duck mascot.
The University athletic department requested that Supwitchugirl take the video down, and accusations later flew that the department had nixed an offer from Nike to re-edit the video and have it shown at the Civil War game.
The one thing that has seemed to remain constant throughout the strange saga of the song has been the support of Duck fanatics.
“I figured it would be cool to wear to work,” said Rennie’s Landing bartender Andrew Harrison.
“My friend saw it on Facebook and told me about it,” University freshman Tyler Sassara said. “I had to get one.”
Sassara said he definitely plans on wearing the shirt to the Civil War football game.
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