Oh, those wacky people in the ABC marketing department. First they decide to promote their hit Ugly Betty by launching a "Be Ugly '07" campaign. Now they've decided to promote their new comedy The Knights of Prosperity by "recruiting" people to join the Knights. This "recruitment" effort will be done via a viral campaign aimed at pre- and post-Christmas shoppers.

The press release from ABC (after the jump) pretty much explains the whole scheme, including wallet drops at shopping malls with Knights "membership cards" in them, "rock star receipts" given to random shoppers at Virgin Megastores and other places, and opportunities to grab cash in a Knights-sponsored money booth. This is all to promote the premiere of Knights on January 3 at 9 PM.

Of course, they could just promote the show by saying it's the funniest new pilot this season. But I guess the truth doesn't always help... just ask the producers of The Nine.