The Social Distancing Sweater Posted on | Ad Age

SimpliSafe's ugly Christmas sweater starts blaring when people come (unsafely) close to you.

Ugly Christmas sweaters have become a regular holiday tradition, but in the age of COVID they take on a new role—as a safety device.

In a campaign from MullenLowe U.S., home security brand Simplisafe has created its own version of the seasonal jumper, one that’s designed to keep people adequately distanced from one another. No, it’s not so profanely hideous that it instantly repels passersby; like SimpliSafe, it’s powered by technology that will warn others when they are getting too close. Once a friend or family member approaches the boundaries of the safe six-foot perimeter around the wearer, alarms built into the sweater will immediately start blaring to warn them to back away.

Simplisafe is promoting the sweaters on a dedicated site, sweater.simplisafe.com. It created a limited number of the jumpers that it will give to consumers who donate to the NeighborWorks America Rental Resilience Fund, which aims to keep people and families struggling economically during the pandemic in homes.

Unfortunately, the sweaters being given away are simply just ugly—the alarm function exists only in a prototype that MullenLowe U.S. created for the campaign, but the tech-savvy can find all the details on how to add their own alarms on the campaign site.

This article was originally published on Ad Age