What the Kids are Watching: Hot Topic Visits South Park

Hot Topic plays a key role in South Park recent spoof of the new vampire-film Twilight. Here's a quick episode background: South Park character Butters thinks he sees a vampire in school. While everyone is up in arms, the Goth kids become frustrated that their classmates can't tell the difference between an actual vampire and just a Goth kid.

In the first clip, Butters undergoes an ancient "Hot Topic" ceremony that transforms him into a Vampire Kid. Watch below or here.



In this next clip, the Goth kids learn that Hot Topic is responsible for turning students into vampires (the retailer entered the South Park Mall just two weeks prior) Hot Topic is sacrificed (they burn it down), so the Vampire Kids can return to normalcy and the Goth kids can go back to just being Goth. Watch below or here.



Although burning down of Hot Topic is a little too dramatic for my taste, young consumers view being made fun of in this capacity on South Park a rite of passage similar to mockery on Saturday Night Live. Comedy Central's message boards have been booming with comments that the scenes were hilarious and that they love Hot Topic "soooo" much. You know South Park fans will remember this episode when they pass by their local Hot Topic... and they might even go in.