After The Mercury reported the story, it was picked up

Furry boot fans across the world are pledging on Twitter to refrain from hiding items in their boots if Pottstown Middle School Principal Gail UGGs for Cheap Cooper will lift the ban she imposed on the boots last week.

The story has taken many twists and turns since the ban was first imposed by Cooper, ostensibly because students were using their Uggs boots to hide cell phones and “food items,” later determined to be cinnamon for use in a prank called “the cinnamon challenge.”

After The Mercury reported the story, it was picked up by news sites around the world, going viral and even landing in a punchline on the late night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Then the folks over at UK Whooga got hold of the story.

The online retailer, which “offers boutique alternative ugg boots at discounted prices,” decided to fight back with a campaign in which people were encouraged to support the removal of the ban by tweeting items they’ll no longer smuggle in their Uggs-style boots.

“We created a page on our site and sent out a message to our followers. We really just wanted to do something which poked fun at the ridiculous nature of the ban and never expected a response like this,” said Michael Hodge, technical director for the site.

“The next morning I was more than a little UGGs in stores surprised to see over 1,000 people had joined the petition,” Hodge wrote in an e-mail from the company’s Australia headquarters.

“Initially people pledged to no longer smuggle iPhones, handheld gaming consoles and MP3 players in their ugg boots,” he wrote.

“After the obvious, people began pledging to stop smuggling Cuban cigars, illegal immigrants and Ryan Reynolds as well as other items we’re at a loss to try and explain. According to the website nJuice, which monitors viral media shares, the item was the most talked about topic in social media on Feb. 2,” he wrote.

“For reasons I haven’t figured out in my decade in the industry, ugg boots polarize people. You love or loathe them, there is no middle ground with ugg boots, UGGs in Stores Canada but the ban really takes the cake,” he wrote. Continued...