In another example of the “but is it real” press releases that regularly arrive at The Message, Subway this week launched “Footlong Fanny Packs” to mark National Sandwich Month.

The wearable, thermal-insulated, and Subway-branded bags were created as a way of amplifying the buy-one-get-one half-price deal being offered by the popular sub chain (which was acquired Thursday for a reported $9.5 billion.)

“The Footlong Fanny Pack began as a playful, creative solution to the (wonderful) challenge of juggling too many Footlongs during our BOGO deal throughout National Sandwich Month,” said Subway Canada’s head of marketing, Lisa Mazurkewich, in a release.

If you buy one sub and need to take advantage of the half-price deal to buy a second, what do you do with it? Why, you keep it in your fanny pack to save for later, of course.

“We thought if your footlong had anywhere else to go but your belly, people would love this footlong fanny pack perfectly timed for National Sandwich Month,” said Jordan Doucette, chief creative officer at Dentsu Canada, the creative agency for the campaign. Carat handled media, with Veritas for PR and social.

That idea grew into a multi-channel marketing campaign with organic and paid social creative throughout August and in broadcast segments, with influencer content, and earned media to support.

Brands creating <Googles euphemisms for ugly> “unbeautiful” clothing and merchandise has been a thing for a while. But the tactic has seemingly picked up speed in the social era, when it’s not always clear if the products are a real thing or just a clever/funny stunt to generate shares on social, or coverage by media that that pays attention to youth/digital culture.

Usually when those pitches come in (like this, this and this), we end up asking ourselves some version of the question: “But is that real?” Or, ‘Who would wear that?’ In this case, 50 of the Subway fanny packs were produced and quickly snapped up for free at FootLongFannypack.com.