Jonathan Bennett Scores Ninja Deal: "I Owe My Abs to the PREPi"

The actor who immortalized "it's October 3rd" in Mean Girls just turned his most-quoted day into a brand deal ... and the product comes in pink.

Jonathan Bennett, who played Aaron Samuels in the 2004 original, announced a partnership with Ninja for the launch of the Ninja PREPi food prep and storage system. The timing is deliberate: October 3rd is universally known as Mean Girls Day, an annual meme cycle that puts Bennett's face back in every feed without a single new project.

"I owe my entire life to Mean Girls," Bennett told Yahoo Entertainment. "I owe every job that I have ... because Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels and Mark Waters believed in me." He has no intention of running from the association.

The specific pitch is fitness. Bennett is currently a series regular on General Hospital, where he is shirtless, by his own description, "every other week." "Meal prep is a huge part of my life," he said. "I owe my abs on GH to the Ninja PREPi."

The Meme-Celebrity Brand Math

Bennett represents something specific in the endorsement market: a celebrity whose peak cultural moment is tied to a calendar date, not a project cycle. Ninja does not need to launch during award season or sync to a film release. The campaign runs itself on October 3rd. The internet does the reach buy.

This is the meme-celebrity business model at its most efficient. The cultural imprint happened in 2004 and has compounded annually since. Mean Girls grossed $130 million worldwide on a $17 million budget, spawned a Broadway musical in 2018, and got a new film adaptation in 2024. Each revival refreshed the asset without requiring Bennett to be the lead. The meme did the work.

Still Working, Not Just a Memory

Bennett is not coasting on a single scene. He has hosted Halloween Wars on Food Network for sixteen seasons, including the current "Back from the Dead: All Stars" run, where teams of pumpkin carvers and sugar artists compete for a $50,000 prize. He met his husband, Jaymes Vaughan, while Vaughan was interviewing him about the show for Celebrity Page. "Halloween Wars is the reason I'm married," he said.

His take on the annual October 3rd attention is not complicated: "Mean Girls is more than a movie. It's part of people's lives. This is ingrained in pop culture." The Ninja PREPi campaign is built on exactly that durability.

For a brand looking to own a specific pop culture date, Bennett is not just a spokesperson. He is the date.

Ad Watch News is an independent commentary site with no affiliation with Jonathan Bennett, Ninja, or any party named here. This piece draws on published sources listed below.

Jonathan Bennett Scores Ninja Deal: "I Owe My Abs to the PREPi"

The Meme-Celebrity Brand Math

Still Working, Not Just a Memory

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