Jim Romenesko had the smart, if random, idea to ask the folks at Target headquarters what they think of Kristen Wiig's "Target Lady" character, the friendly but incompetent employee who has abandoned customers at her register for years on live television.

Smartly, a spokesperson for Target couldn't find anything bad to say about the freshly Oscar-nominated Wiig or her gentle parody. "[W]e’ve laughed along with audiences at these pop culture references to the Target brand. As they say, 'imitation is the highest form of flattery,'" Target's Jessica Carlson tells him. We've actually always wondered whether SNL somehow got Target to pay for their prominent product placement, but they haven't, Romenesko says. (Maybe they ought to.)

Sure, Wiig's character is kind of useless, but she's loveable, and the sketch has been splashing the Target logo all over NBC for years now. Romenesko undertook the investigation as part of his recurring feature "Trying to get a straight answer out of a PR person," and, being TL fans, we're sure happy he settled on the Target Lady idea. ("Where did you find these ideas?" Target Lady might ask him. Or, "I'm going to use these ideas to make socks for my cat!")

Okay, sorry, we're finished. Now excuse us as we rewatch several Target lady sketches: 

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at erandall at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.