Three Wolf Moon
Encyclopedia
Three Wolf Moon is a T-shirt
featuring three wolves howling at the moon
printed by the company The Mountain. The numerous false and misleading review
s for this on Amazon.com
have become an Internet phenomenon. The T-shirt was designed by artist Antonia Neshev.
, was searching for a school book on Amazon and was led to The Three Wolf Moon T-shirt by an Amazon recommendation which had been targeted at students purchasing college semester books. He decided to write a review of the shirt on a whim as he did not actually own the shirt. His faux-serious review as "Bee-Dot-Govern" in November 2008 concluded:
Since this original review was posted, more than 1700 similar reviews have been posted. Some reviewers have uploaded images showing celebrities such as Barack Obama
or Steve Jobs
wearing the shirt.
The shirt attracted further interest when it became viral on networking sites such as Digg
and Facebook
and was then lauded in conventional media as an Internet phenomenon. German scholar Melvin Haack considers it to be an example of a redneck joke
.
, United States
. Their art director
, Michael McGloin, said that they were making many more shirts in response to the great demand which had made it the top selling item in Amazon's clothing store. Due to the success of the shirt, the New Hampshire
Division of Economic Development made it their "official New Hampshire T-shirt of economic development" and award it as a prize
for innovation
.
s instead of wolves has been produced at the T-shirt design site Threadless
. In July 2009, this was the most highly-rated design there. Other substitutions include: broken JPEG
s, Teen Wolf
and worgen from World of Warcraft
.
The official Star Wars
online store created a "Moon Over My Ewok" shirt that parodies Three Wolf Moon with Ewok
s and the Death Star
in place of wolves and a moon.
The "Three Tux Moon" shirt features Tux
, the penguin associated with Linux and was worn by Wil Wheaton
at w00tstock
Chicago 2010.
Capcom
prepared a limited run through iam8bit of a "Three Wolf God Sun" shirt for the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.
Valve Software has released a "Three Turret Moon" shirt in support of their video game Portal 2
, featuring the turrets from the game instead of the wolves.
Blizzard Entertainment
released a "Three Worgen Moon" shirt for their line of World of Warcraft
apparel, featuring three members of the worgen, a race of wolf-people playable in the game.
Mojang released a "Three Creeper Moon" shirt in support of their video game Minecraft
, featuring the Creeper from that game instead of the wolves, and the moon featured in the game.
The Bioware
video game Dragon Age 2 features a ring wearable by the player character and his or her party members called the "Three Wolf Boon".
EA's game Battlefield 3
has a promotional dog-tag called the "6 Wolf Moon".
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
featuring three wolves howling at the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
printed by the company The Mountain. The numerous false and misleading review
Customer review comedy
Customer review comedy is a genre of comedy — humorous reviews by customers on websites such as Amazon. Famous examples include Tuscan Whole Milk and the Three Wolf Moon t-shirt.-Examples:...
s for this on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
have become an Internet phenomenon. The T-shirt was designed by artist Antonia Neshev.
Origin
Brian Govern, a law student at Rutgers UniversityRutgers School of Law—Newark
Rutgers School of Law–Newark is the oldest of three law schools in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located at the S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice, at 123 Washington Street, in downtown Newark...
, was searching for a school book on Amazon and was led to The Three Wolf Moon T-shirt by an Amazon recommendation which had been targeted at students purchasing college semester books. He decided to write a review of the shirt on a whim as he did not actually own the shirt. His faux-serious review as "Bee-Dot-Govern" in November 2008 concluded:
Since this original review was posted, more than 1700 similar reviews have been posted. Some reviewers have uploaded images showing celebrities such as Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
or Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
wearing the shirt.
The shirt attracted further interest when it became viral on networking sites such as Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and was then lauded in conventional media as an Internet phenomenon. German scholar Melvin Haack considers it to be an example of a redneck joke
Redneck joke
A redneck joke is a joke about rednecks — working-class, rural or southern white Americans. For example, Jeff Foxworthy is a comedian that specialises in telling redneck jokes...
.
Sales
The T-shirt is manufactured by The Mountain Corporation, a wholesale clothing company in Keene, New HampshireKeene, New Hampshire
Keene is a city in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 23,409 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Cheshire County.Keene is home to Keene State College and Antioch University New England, and hosts the annual Pumpkin Fest...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Their art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
, Michael McGloin, said that they were making many more shirts in response to the great demand which had made it the top selling item in Amazon's clothing store. Due to the success of the shirt, the New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
Division of Economic Development made it their "official New Hampshire T-shirt of economic development" and award it as a prize
Prize
A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people to recognise and reward actions or achievements. Official prizes often involve monetary rewards as well as the fame that comes with them...
for innovation
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
.
Parodies and attributions
A similar shirt featuring Keyboard CatKeyboard Cat
Keyboard Cat is an Internet meme. It consists of footage from 1984 of "Fatso", a cat owned by Charlie Schmidt of Spokane, Washington, wearing a blue shirt and "playing" an upbeat rhythm on an electronic keyboard. In reality, Fatso was manipulated by Schmidt...
s instead of wolves has been produced at the T-shirt design site Threadless
Threadless
Threadless is an online community of artists and an e-commerce website based in Chicago, Illinois since 2000. Co-founders Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart started the company with $1,000 in seed money after entering an Internet t-shirt design contest....
. In July 2009, this was the most highly-rated design there. Other substitutions include: broken JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
s, Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf is a 1985 American fantasy comedy film released by Atlantic Releasing Corporation starring Michael J. Fox as Scott Howard, a high school student who discovers that his family has an unusual pedigree when he finds himself transforming into a werewolf...
and worgen from World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
.
The official Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
online store created a "Moon Over My Ewok" shirt that parodies Three Wolf Moon with Ewok
Ewok
Ewoks originate from the Star Wars films. In the series, they are a species of teddy-bear-like hunter-gatherers that inhabit the forest moon of Endor. The Ewoks live in various tree-huts and primitive dwellings. They first appeared in the film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi...
s and the Death Star
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
in place of wolves and a moon.
The "Three Tux Moon" shirt features Tux
Tux
Tux is a penguin character and the official mascot of the Linux kernel. Originally created as an entry to a Linux logo competition, Tux is the most commonly used icon for Linux, although different Linux distributions depict Tux in various styles. In video games featuring the character, female...
, the penguin associated with Linux and was worn by Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton
Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...
at w00tstock
W00tstock
w00tstock, billed as "3 Hours of Geeks & Music," is a special event featuring music, comedy, readings, short films, and demonstrations. Shows in 2009 took place in two locations: the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco, California on October 19 and 20; and Largo in Los Angeles, California on...
Chicago 2010.
Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
prepared a limited run through iam8bit of a "Three Wolf God Sun" shirt for the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.
Valve Software has released a "Three Turret Moon" shirt in support of their video game Portal 2
Portal 2
Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle-platform video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The sequel to the 2007 video game Portal, it was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week-long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game...
, featuring the turrets from the game instead of the wolves.
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
released a "Three Worgen Moon" shirt for their line of World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
apparel, featuring three members of the worgen, a race of wolf-people playable in the game.
Mojang released a "Three Creeper Moon" shirt in support of their video game Minecraft
Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010...
, featuring the Creeper from that game instead of the wolves, and the moon featured in the game.
The Bioware
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts...
video game Dragon Age 2 features a ring wearable by the player character and his or her party members called the "Three Wolf Boon".
EA's game Battlefield 3
Battlefield 3
Battlefield 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in North America on October 25, 2011 and in Europe on October 28, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and EA Mobile confirmed a port for...
has a promotional dog-tag called the "6 Wolf Moon".
Notable wearers
- Allan HydeAllan HydeAllan Hyde is a Danish television, theatre and film actor. He was born and raised in Denmark to a Danish mother and English father from London . He is a singer on one track of the international versions of the soundtrack Camp Rock...
of True BloodTrue BloodTrue Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana... - Bravo Company, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, US Marines1st Combat Engineer Battalion1st Combat Engineer Battalion is a combat engineer battalion of the United States Marine Corps. The unit, nicknamed "The Super Breed", is based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California and falls under the command of the 1st Marine Division and the I Marine Expeditionary...
- Panda BearPanda Bear (musician)Noah Benjamin Lennox also known as Panda Bear, is an experimental musician and a founding member of Animal Collective.-Early life:...
, musician and member of Animal CollectiveAnimal CollectiveAnimal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist... - Clay ShirkyClay ShirkyClay Shirky is an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. He has a joint appointment at New York University as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and Assistant Arts Professor in the New...
- Debbie RoweDebbie RoweDeborah Jeanne "Debbie" Rowe is an ex-wife of pop singer, Michael Jackson, and the mother of two of his children. She currently lives in Palmdale, California.-Early life:...
- Rainn WilsonRainn WilsonRainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
as Dwight SchruteDwight SchruteDwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
in the episode "NiagaraNiagara (The Office)"Niagara" is an hour-long episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office. It is the 4th and 5th episodes in the season's episode count and the 104th and 105th episode of the series overall. The episode was written by executive producer Greg Daniels and Mindy Kaling, and was...
" of the American version of The Office - Wil WheatonWil WheatonRichard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...
during the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal Hockey game