Music

Justin Timberlake as a freaky lime man makes him more lovable than ever

by Jeremy Mersereau

Justin Timberlake is a Renaissance man of many talents: Actor, musician, SNL superhost…and apparently alcohol baron. Who knew? In case you don’t keep with with the brand engagements of every single celebrity, here are the cliff notes: Timberlake quietly launched his 901 tequila – named after his hometown Memphis area code – with a distillery in Jalisco, Mexico in 2009; the stuff was good enough to win him and partner Kevin Ruder a gold medal at the World Spirits Competition in 2012. Now that you’re up to speed, prepare your brain for this monstrosity:

Might be hard to believe, but underneath the 10 pounds of anthropomorphic lime man makeup is a man who once got an entire nation to love a song about him placing his penis into a cardboard box. Okay, maybe it’s not that hard to believe. Maybe nothing is unbelievable any more. The idea to use that old trope of the lime-man-fallen-on-hard-times apparently came directly from JT himself. “It’s been a great collaboration, but it largely comes from his idea and the tone he wanted to set for the brand” Kevin George, global CMO at Sauza parent company Beam Suntory, told Fast Company.

The takeaway is: nothing’s gonna stop this runaway train we’re all on, so might as well enjoy the ride. After all, it’s not every day a celebrity compromises themselves to try and sell you something. Oh wait, I forgot it was post-1980. It is every day. I feel like I’m going insane.