Wendy’s attempt to leverage pop culture and social media goes terribly awry, as comedian/actor/activist Amy Schumer leverages her own much-anticipated baby gender reveal with a heartfelt call to Boycott Wendy’s! Alyssa Milano followed suit, and it was game over…
Within hours, #BoycottWendys was trending on Twitter and Instagram, and millions of consumers were learning of the nationwide boycott, as news of the campaign spread across USA Today, People Magazine, E! News Online, Fox News, PerezHilton.com and more!
From the Live by the sword/Die by the sword Department…
In order to fully understand today’s story, it is necessary first to learn a tidbit of internet trivia. It is a fact of the ever-evolving world of social media that hamburger giant Wendy’s once briefly held the title for the most retweeted tweet ever – beating out Ellen DeGeneres’ famous Oscar selfie when a customer’s tweeted request for a year’s supply of free nuggets garnered nearly 3.5 million re-tweets in 2017 (in response to a challenge by the company to collect 18 million retweets). The feat won kudos for Wendy’s PR shop and established Wendy’s as the cheekiest fast-food presence on social media, a status the company has been working hard to maintain ever since.
And so it came as no surprise when, yesterday morning, Wendy’s reached to catch that sweet viral lightning in a bottle a second time, jumping on a tweet by popular hip hop artist Chance the Rapper in which he asked the company to bring back its spicy chicken nuggets. In response, Wendy’s promised to bring back the nuggets if Chance the Rapper could come up with 2 million likes. Their hope was to repeat the magic of the 2017 retweet gambit and generate positive social media buzz.
But what the internet giveth, it can brutally taketh away. Instead of a flood of retweets and the heady dopamine rush of free publicity, the move brought the full fury of the internet down on Wendy’s and resulted in perhaps the single biggest day of publicity for the Wendy’s Boycott – thanks to a brilliant play by comedian, actor, and Fair Food ally Amy Schumer...
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