Spirit Halloween gave a surprising answer Saturday evening live‘s sketch parodying the famous seasonal superstore during last weekend’s 50th season premiere.

The sketch in question is fairly routine SNL commercial parody that positions Spirit as a Habitat for Humanity-like organization that invades devastated American cities to boost the economy… but only six weeks a year.

“When others leave, we show up,” a Spirit employee says in the voiceover. “We don’t see a dead-end city. We don’t see an abandoned K-Mart. We see a ghost, a ghost Halloween,” the ad continues. “Thanks to us, what used to be a condemned AutoZone where a murder occurred is once again a thriving business…where a murder occurred.”

According to SNLSpirit Halloween offers “vulnerable communities the things they need most: wigs that give you rashes, single-use fog machines, and costumes of famous characters modified just enough to avoid a lawsuit.”

Surprisingly, Spirit issued an incredibly sharp response to the parody calling the venerable sketch show “irrelevant.” The company retweeted the sketch with the caption, “We’re great at bringing things back from the dead, @nbcsnl,” alongside a hastily photoshopped photo of an “Irrelevant 50-Year-Old TV Show” costume. The packaging says: “Includes dated references, unknown cast members, declining ratings.”

What specifically upset Spirit about the commercial parody is unclear, as it’s fairly benign SNL standards. Neither the show nor NBC have commented on Spirit’s jabs. Although it’s worth nothing that the store’s response follows a well-worn meme format that produces parody costumes using the brand name.

A temporary Halloween store that calls everything “irrelevant” is certainly daring, but the brand couldn’t have picked a less opportune time to lash out Saturday evening live. In addition to the buzz surrounding the milestone anniversary, the season 50 debut recorded the show’s highest ratings for a premiere episode since 2020. Adding to the show’s cultural moment is Jason Reitman’s film Saturday eveninga well-reviewed biopic about the assembly of SNL‘pilot episode from 1975. It debuted last weekend in New York and Los Angeles to strong numbers, and will roll out nationwide on October 11.

SNL also draws particularly strong viewership during election years, and this season’s revolving door of guest stars all but guarantees a buzzy slate for the next five weeks — about seven days after Spirit packs up and leaves town.