Exclusive Interview
Chad Michael Murray Heats Up the Holiday Season With ‘Deals of Desire’ Black Friday Campaign (VIDEO)
It is a good time to be Chad Michael Murray. Not only can the rudely shredded Sullivan’s Crossing star be seen grinding away as a small-town fella-turned-stripper in Netflix’s The Merry Gentlemen, but he’s also got Freakier Friday in the works, and he’s taking part in one of the holiday season’s cheekiest ad campaigns.
And we are so buying what he’s selling along with a slew of fellow actors who have assembled for Deals of Desire, a 10-chapter “advertainment” series promoting Walmart’s Black Friday Deals event. According to Murray, he’s been doing his research for this role since his teens.
“Oh yeah…I remember my first time Black Friday shopping, 15 years old, trying to get Nintendo 64, sitting out in the parking lot, 2:00 AM with my brother, made [it] a whole thing,” he recalls. “It was so much fun.”
While his days of waiting in line are behind him, Murray was happy to join the lineup featured in Deals of Desire, which sees him, Walton Goggins, Lisa Rinna, Ian Somerhalder, Taye Diggs and Anthony Ramos all camping it up in minisodes inspired by various drama tropes.
The first trailer dropped earlier this month with TikToker Jake Shane as a production assistant and helping with the casting of the fictional series. Subsequent chapters tied to specific Walmart sales have posted since. So far, we’ve seen Goggins in a Yellowstone spoof, Days of Our Lives alum Rinna leaning into her soapy roots, The Vampire Diaries‘ Somerhalder back amongst the vampires, and a Bridgerton-ish promo with Ramos.
“My hat’s off to everybody who has conceptualized this because it blew my mind when I got eyes on the campaign,” raves Murray, whose chapter pays homage to Friday Night Lights. “It was an easy ‘Yes’ for me. It’s witty, it’s funny, it’s everything that it needs to be, and…to be honest, I’m used to working with props, but in this, we’re the props. The stars are the deals, right?”
Spoken like a true spokesman? Murray admits that even if he weren’t in the store’s ad, you could still find him in the store.
“Walmart’s where it’s at, and it has been for a very, very, very long, long time,” he says. “I travel a lot, like my family and I would go all over the world, shooting, filming, and the one place that we can always count on, it’s always been Walmart. And I don’t say that because we’re doing a campaign together. I’m saying that because it’s just the truth.” As for whether he got to work with any of the other actors showcased in the seemingly disconnected Deals of Desires chapters, Murray is just as honest. “It’s the Wal-verse, man. We’re all tied in. You just wait, you got 10 episodes…we’re tying in the Wal-verse.” Sounds priceless.
