To find out more about this new viral challenge, Bored Panda reached out to Bre and Matt Bogert, who joined forces in some of the very best shots submitted to the #TargetDressChallenge. Their humorous pictures have since gone viral, amassing 5.3k reactions, 2.7k shares, and 1k comments on Facebook.

When asked what they thought of the infamous Target dress, Bre said that she first saw the Target dress challenge on one of her farm or chicken-related groups on Facebook. As for the infamous prairie dress, she had seen it in the store. “I did a double-take and thought... WHAT!?”

“Once I saw a husband having participated, I showed my husband, who laughed just as hard as me. His initial reaction had a few eye rolls, but then hilarity ensued,” Bre explained.

When asked how she managed to convince Matt to dress up for the challenge, Bre confessed that “there wasn’t much convincing after my 8- and 10-year-old sons saw the shoots and started egging him on.”

“My almost 10-year-old asked him to do it for his birthday present (we did the shoot on his birthday!) and—off to Target we went! He’s 6’8” tall and 300 pounds—we didn’t think we would find a dress, and that XXL was a little stretchy and it fit like a glove,” Bre laughed.

The dress was supposed to be floor-length, but “as you see, a little knee was shown,” she added.

The couple said that just like for many of us, their past year has seen some hard times, less laughter, and a lot of social discontinuity. “My husband’s family had been through a rough time recently with losing loved ones and once we realized how much joy this was bringing and light-hearted fun, the deal was sealed.”

And since Bre and Matt live on a farm with goats, chickens, rabbits, and hounds, half of the job had been done already. Plus, Bre is a professional photographer who runs her website Bre Bogert Photography. “We didn’t need a single 'prop' (except the dress!)—It was a given…”

As for the feedback, besides the initial shock and hysterical laughter of family and friends, the feedback has been awesome.

“We thought it would reach a few folks outside our chicken and farm groups, but not like this! We have had some very complimentary messages about my adorable husband (he’s taken, ladies, sorry!), but the best messages have been ones from folks who appreciate the humor in these isolating times.”

Many messages and comments that Bre and Matt received were from people who hadn’t laughed this hard since the pandemic started. "Some said that this was something they needed to see on a particularly hard day, and just thanking us for sharing some joy."

And this wholesome feedback is what makes a challenge like this all worth it for Bre and Matt. “My husband and I both agree if we can make anyone’s day brighter (even if it’s him in a dress with our chickens or goats as the cause), then it’s a great day.”

In fact, some people liked the model, aka Matt, so much that the couple even had some others asking if he’s single. “Other messages were from folks wanting to buy the dress (we told them we are making it into pillows to always remember this shoot!), and some other chicken breed-related questions.” Bre added that "there was one guy who even asked what kind of dog our goat was.”

There’s something about the Target dress challenge which makes it particularly humorous in these gloomy times. “The meme we saw circulating about the locusts and losing the farm made us laugh so hard. When we saw those dresses in person, we HAD TO try.”

Bre said that “seeing the men and women and kids dress in these dresses without a care in the world, hamming it up for the cameras, having fun with it—THAT is funny. Honest hilarity.” In fact, Bre, who’s a pro photographer, confessed that “75% of the shots I took were shaky because my boys and I were laughing so hard.”