Loretta Gillespie
The Cullman Times
CULLMAN — Brittany Brooks and Nicole Casey were just hanging out in the Birmingham mall, you know, like all teenagers, doing a little shopping, watching the crowds, just normal stuff.
They came across booth displaying cotton goods — T-shirts and other items made from this Southern staple. The booth was set up so that you could browse through the cotton items, then check out the ads which showed where you could find them in the mall.
What was different about this particular booth was that “Cotton, The Fabric of Our Lives,” sponsored it.
They recognized the logo from the familiar jingle so often heard on television.
“We had seen the commercials and knew what it was, but then we noticed a booth where you could enter a competition by singing a jingle.”
Brittany, 17, and Nicole, 18, are no strangers to the stage. They started performing when they were about six and seven at their church, The Foundation of Jesus, here in Cullman.
“We lead the worship services, and we sing at special events,” said Nicole.
The girls are home schooled, and so it just happened that they were there when the email came.
“We screamed and yelled, and started calling people, saying, ‘Get on-line and vote for us!’” they laughed.
“We had a chance to practice the jingle which appeared on a screen. Then, we were asked what we thought about our favorite cotton products, which are our t-shirts,” said Brittany. “After that, we pressed ‘record,’ sang the jingle, and left the booth.”
“We didn’t think too much about it. In fact, we sort of forgot all about it,” laughed Nicole. “But then recently we got an e-mail saying, “Congratulations, your group, 24U, has been selected to compete among the top five overall winners in the ‘Cotton, The Fabric of our Lives,’ competition.”
“These competition booths were spread out all over the world,” said Deborah Casey, Nicole’s mom, “and we were excited that they did so well.”
“We had to sign releases so that they could put the video on-line for people to vote for the winner,” said Nicole.
They were the only Alabama contestants to place in the competition; there were two from Tennessee, one from California, and another from North Carolina.
The girls are understandably excited, and for good reason.
“If we win, we will get several cotton products, and an all expenses paid trip to New York, where we will each go on a $500 shopping spree with a Cotton Stylist at Macy’s,” said Nicole.
Brittany and Nicole need online votes to accomplish their goal. You can vote for their video at www.thefabricofourlives.com/TheFabricOfMyLife/songcontest.html
The winner of the competition will be announced after the first of the year, so it is important that votes be cast before New Year’s Day.
Now, I’ll bet you can’t get that jingle out of your head, can you?
