What is Empire Today Jingle?

It is a sound meme built around the final bass note and ding from the Empire Today flooring ad, synced to moments of impact in short clips.

Where did Empire Today Jingle come from?

Chicago salesman Elmer Lynn Hauldren voiced the ads starting in the 1970s, and Vine user Jared wonago posted the first known meme edit on May 15, 2016.

What does Empire Today Jingle mean?

Online, the jingle works as a comedic punctuation sound for a sudden event in a video, with the bass note landing at the exact frame of impact.

How do you use Empire Today Jingle?

Editors sync the final sting to the moment something hits, falls, or surprises the subject, as in Memers Delight's Fortnite dance edit.

Is Empire Today Jingle still popular?

Usage peaked between 2016 and 2019, with Twitter users still referencing the audio in mid-2019, though newer edits are rare.

Empire Today Jingle

2016sound memeclassic

Published October 28, 2026

Empire Today Jingle refers to the catchy phone number song used in TV ads for the Chicago flooring company, voiced for decades by salesman Elmer Lynn Hauldren. Vine users turned the final bass note and bell ding into a punchline sting in May 2016, syncing it to dance fails and other kinetic clips. By mid-2019, Twitter posts were still citing the audio in jokes about chaotic family TV moments.

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Overview

The audio joke uses the final bass note and bell ding from an Empire Today flooring ad as a comedic sting1. Editors sync the sound to a moment of impact in a clip, such as someone falling, dabbing, or slamming into something, so the ad audio punctuates whatever happens on screen3. Newer versions of the commercial switched to the toll-free number, with Hauldren saying 'Today' over a pitched-up fretless bass hit1.

Image versions often feature Hauldren himself or the CGI replica of him from the 2004 to 2015 ad end tags, spliced into formats like Nut Button3. Some edits deploy a loud distorted variation where the audio is pushed to maximum volume for shock humor5. The sting lands because viewers who grew up on cable TV in Empire Today markets know the sound instantly, so no caption is needed to deliver the punchline.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Vine (origin), YouTube and Twitter (viral spread)

Creator

Jared wonago

Date

2016

Elmer Lynn Hauldren voiced Empire Today ads for decades starting in the 1970s, with the earliest acapella take using the Chicago-area refrain '588-2300, Empiiiiire!' before a synth bell ding1. The jingle entered meme usage on May 15, 2016, when Vine user Jared wonago uploaded a clip pairing the sting with footage of a man falling backwards during a dance battle2.

An early Instagram example surfaced on January 27, 2017, posted by user streetofmemes and later scraped by Me.me3. That image showed the CGI Empire Carpet guy smashing a Nut Button over the caption 'WHEN YOU'RE HITTING IT FROM THE BACK & SHE TURNS AROUND & MOANS CALL 800-588-2300 EMPIRE TODAY'3.

How It Spread

The sting migrated into perfectly timed edits across YouTube through 2017 and 2018. YouTuber Memers Delight synced the jingle to a Fortnite character pointing at the final dance beat, bringing in over 25,000 views4. A loud distorted edit by YouTuber Isabelle combined the audio with the Nut Button meme and gathered roughly 7,100 views5.

Twitter edits reappeared in 2019. On February 20, 2019, user @drevmcast tweeted a clip of the jingle playing on a TV while their parents argued offscreen, describing it as the background to the biggest argument they had ever heard6. In July 2019, @JustDanielOffic reacted to the newer version of the jingle sounding wrong compared to the one viewers remembered7. On July 15, 2019, @pausebreakalex joked about the updated Empire Today ad direction, tagging it with #empiretoday8.

Timeline

2016-05-15

Vine user Jared wonago posts the earliest known edit, syncing the jingle to a man falling during a dance battle[2].

2017-01-27

Me.me scrapes an Instagram Nut Button edit by streetofmemes featuring the CGI Empire Carpet guy and a 'Call 800-588-2300' punchline[3].

2019-02-20

Twitter user @drevmcast tweets about the jingle playing during a loud family argument[6].

2019-07-11

@JustDanielOffic posts about the newer jingle sounding different from the version viewers grew up with[7].

2019-07-15

@pausebreakalex tweets a joke about the 2019 Empire Today ad using the hashtag #empiretoday[8].

How to Use This Meme

Edits typically place the final bass note on the exact frame something hits, lands, or shocks the subject in a short video. Picking footage with a clear impact beat, like a dab, a crash, or a stumble, lets the ad audio hit as the punchline. Image macros often feature Hauldren's CGI face alongside wordplay riffing on the 'Call 800-588-2300' tagline.