#MontyThePenguin ad goes viral with cute boy and his penguin
The annual parade of adorable holiday ads has officially begun.
This John Lewis ad, released online Thursday, tells the story of a little boy whose pet penguin is looking for love. If you're wondering why he would have a pet penguin, well, you'll just have to watch to understand.
The beautiful story, which turns out to be about the magic of make-believe as much as about penguin love, has gone viral overnight, with 4.5 million views as of Friday morning.
And Monty is taking on a life of his own. The store is selling Monty merchandise, which is flying off the virtual shelves. All plush dolls of both Monty and his female friend Mabel are sold out.
The internet, of course, loves Monty. Other retailers are playing off of his popularity in their social media posts. Someone made a creepy horror movie trailer out of it. And the man known on Twitter as the "real John Lewis"--whose account is often mixed up with the English retailer--is having a field day responding to all the tweets.
Let's hope this is just the first of many viral holiday ads. Stay cool, Monty.
