From: Moosejaw.com
Subject Line: Hottie Poster for Gentlemen who might be Dads
Date: Thursday, June 17, 2010

This Father's Day, I got my dad a special tea mug. It had a steeping basket and a lid built in. I thought it was pretty cool. But apparently I am kind of a square--the real cool kids get their dads...posters of "hotties." Their own dads (or husbands or brothers). Ew.

I know Moosejaw is well known (and celebrated) for their snarky, rambling, copy-heavy emails, and I usually enjoy them a lot. It's important to push limits once in a while so you keep your content fun and distinctive, especially for a brand like Moosejaw.

But this email crosses a line for me. It's a little too sleazy to be funny (who calls another human being a "random"?), and a little too gross to be good-humored. There's nothing wrong with speaking to particular segments of your readership, of course--but at the same time, you don't want to alienate a large portion of your list, which I would argue has been done here. I think this copy could have been spun in a more respectful, but still funny and edgy, way.