An Irish Penneys store is going viral with brilliant Pride-themed TikTok

Penneys Liffey Valley

Penneys in Liffey Valley is going viral with a brilliant Pride-inspired TikTok. The team, led by staff member and choreographer Adam Norris, dance around the store to Born This Way by Lady Gaga, adorned in pride flags. It's a feel-good watch and is getting great attention online.

Adam says he was approached about doing the video, so he got some of his friends together and started to create the concept. The team was made up of Adam, Emma Horgan, Jodie Sweeney, Megan Shaughnessy and Ian Hanley.

"I was given a deadline, the Monday of Pride week, and I only got around to filming it the week before, while only being in work for three of the days. I started with the stairs dance, which you see when the chorus hits, I took a lot of inspiration from vogue houses and ballrooms for the dynamics of what we were going to be doing.

"We picked Born This Way, cut the music to that time stamp and just ran with it really!"

Adam understood that while he is a dancer, it could be a challenge for the rest of the staff. 

"Teaching the team was a great experience because everyone was so willing to learn even though most of them had never danced before. When I was teaching them I made it very clear to them if they were stuck to ask questions and honestly no one ever even got stuck."

It makes it all the more impressive knowing the team did the video during their shifts. 

The video production behind this Penneys Pride campaign is honestly sensational. M&S Romford should be SHAKING! https://t.co/3881raSqsZ

— loveofhuns x (@loveofhuns) June 29, 2022

"Everyone was so quick to learn it given that we were all on the clock and had to run back to the floor in 20 minutes."

On the success of the video, Adam said it feels "mad to see it do so well", but has also seen some negative feedback.

"I’ve seen a lot of hate for the video out there, but what I don’t think people realise is that this video was made by a team of queer people for queer people.

"I wanted it to be enjoyable and easy for everyone to enjoy, but this was a project for the LGBTQ+ community and there was no goal of this reaching any huge numbers, this was just us having fun!"

The video has reached over 175,000 views on TikTok, 40,000 on Twitter, and 10,000 on Instagram,

"It’s insane to see the numbers. Yesterday we just got shared to a page with 650,000 followers that Katy Perry follows on Instagram."

Adam also added that there was more to the TikTok than meets the eye.

"The video is Wizard of Oz themed, originally the end was gonna be that a manager walked in and noticed we were all gone. The whole sequence after I fall asleep at the till is a dream, I was even using the twister scene from the movie to cut between, but the manager wasn’t in when we were so we couldn’t get it finished, so I’m not sure if the concept really comes across but that was the original concept."