Moncton snowblower ad goes viral
Humorous Kijiji posting gets more than 200,000 hits, date requests
Weh-Ming Cho posted the ad on Kijiji on Wednesday about 10 a.m., when the region was hit with a snowstorm.
As of Thursday night, the ad had gotten 129,462 views, he said. "To put that into perspective, that's more people than were reported for the metropolitan area that I live in (2006)," Cho wrote on his blog, The Blognostifier.
By Friday morning, the number of hits had jumped to more than 200,000.
The title of the advertisement was simple enough: 11HP/29" Snowblower. Price, $900.
But what made the ad so popular on Facebook newsfeeds and Twitter was Cho's humorous approach.
"This isn't some entry level snowblower that is just gonna move the snow two feet away. This is an 11 HP Briggs and Stratton machine of snow doom that will cut a 29-inch path of pure ecstasy," the ad states.
"And it's only four years old. I dare you to find a harder working four-year-old. My niece is five and she gets tired and cranky after just a few minutes of shovelling. This guy just goes and goes and goes."
"Did you want to get out of your house today? Were you expecting to get to work on time? Or even this week?
"You gave it your best shot. You tried to shovel by yourself and I respect you for that. But deep down inside, we all wanted to murder that neighbour with the snowblower who was finished and on his second beer while you were still trying to throw snow over a snowbank taller than you are.
"So, here we are. You could murder your neighbour, which could ensure that you won’t need to shovel a driveway for 25 to life, but there are downsides to that too. What to do?"
Cho's solution? Buy his "glorious tribute to man's triumph over nature" because he has hired someone to plow his driveway and his wife wants him to "get the snowblower sold."
"I want you to experience the rush that comes with smashing through a snowdrift and blowing that mother trucker out of the way. The elation of seeing the snowplow come back down your street and watching the look of despair as your other neighbour gets his shovel out once more while you kick back with a hot cup of joe."
On his blog, Cho says the ad landed him interviews with CBC Radio, the local newspaper and www.yousuckatkijiji, which he described as "an unexpected delight." And he had more interviews lined up.
"I feel like I should use this newfound power and fame to do something worthy. But instead I'm just going to continue to try to get people to buy my snowblower," he wrote.
Replies, no buys
Although Cho has been bombarded with emails — some from as far away as Sydney, Australia — most of them are from people writing to say how much they loved the ad, he said.
Though not intended, Cho's snowblower ad is melting some hearts and attracting several date proposals.
"I'm happily married," Cho said.
Not only date offers, but job offers from across the country are also popping up in his inbox.
Kijiji tweeted to Cho that he's in the running to have the most views ever on the site.
But the snowblower still hasn't sold.
"I'm looking forward to having a snowblower-sized hole in our garage," he said. "It'll be sad to say goodbye, but on the other hand, I will happily sip coffee and watch the snowplow come and just clean my driveway out in 30 seconds."