Brands That Brawl: Company Personas That Clap Back In Posts Online
By Aakash M
Many companies have established a good amount of social media presence in recent years-especially on Twitter. The Internet “personalities” of these brands have been personalized quite well. Sometimes they can work in their favor, while other times, it doesn’t. For example, Denny’s and Wendy’s are known to tweet hilarious content that’s relatable to most of us. Unfortunately, frequently due to trolling, these personified statements don’t go according to plan. For those awkward moments, check out this list of funny posts where companies end up getting roasted.
Bitter Truth
We all know that when things come to personalized marketing content, most of these brands are in unknown waters. Although there aren’t so many rules, we have seen some pretty clear patterns here. Take a look at this innovative idea.
That one must have hit Spotify hard. A Twitter user gave a shoutout to his DoorDash driver. His driver had pinned his Spotify account on the order. When Spotify saw what was happening, they reacted to it, only to face some bitter criticism.
A Bad Date
In this image, you will see Subway fall for a Twitter troll. Nobody saw it coming, and we can’t really put this one on Subway. This fast-food restaurant was only hoping for a date, but things never go as planned, do they?
First things first, it’s McDonald’s. Sorry, we just had to get that error out of the way. This Twitter user asked out Subway on a date, and Subway jokingly accepted it. But, when Subway asked where they would be going, the user had a pretty savvy reply to that.
Burger King Problems
Although many more are yet to come, a crucial lesson to learn here is that although we forgive, forget and move on, the Internet doesn’t. Burger King tried to share their thoughts on drive-thrus, but Twitter turned the tables.
Burger King had a great pun in that tweet of theirs. Great philosophy, great quote. Ultimately, it all had to be ruined by some Twitter user who somehow had a photo of a car that rammed into Burger King.
Dos And Don’ts
The rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t ask open-ended questions on the Internet if you are a brand because it opens you to many weird answers when you do so. Although this question was asked in a closed survey and the brand considered this rule, it didn’t stop them from being roasted.
Many of us might have taken this survey too. But we weren’t as savage as this guy to roast Microsoft so beautifully. Well, maybe it didn’t cross our minds. But this guy has a point here. A conversation where you randomly recommend operating systems would be weird.
Walked Right Into It
In this image, Real Kraft Mayo (is there a fake one?) asks Twitter to share all their mayo-related relationship issues and if they have any solutions for those problems. They also came up with hashtags and prizes for it. But that didn’t stop them from being trolled either.
Instead of mayo problems, this Twitter user used the moment to drop a bomb of sadness with genuine concern. It was probably not something the brand was hoping to hear. Confused by the response, the brand said they don’t have any mayo-related comedy to help her out.
The Huge Crash
Facebook has crashed and been down quite a few times. Whenever that happened in the past, other platforms came to Twitter, of course, to boast about it. But, Twitter beat everybody to the punch. Whatsapp followed after them, but it crashed as well. McDonald’s, though, was burned.
McDonald’s has some serious problems with its broken ice cream machines. Everybody asks them to fix it, but it looks like that’s not helping so much. They had joined the gloating session with a humorous response, but they were met with an even more humorous burn.
Lonely
In this image, Damian Lillard from Portland Trail Blazers asked his followers if anybody had a spare login that he could use to watch the game. Bud Light took this moment to promote their brand, and it was a flop.
Bud Light offered to send a 12 pack to the person who gives the NBA star their login for the game. That’s generous of them. But, when the NBA player didn’t roast the brand, other people jumped in to do that. It was painful.
Had It Coming
Get ready to see Microsoft Office fall into the classic social media trap where they ask questions and can’t handle the answers. The borders and lines are challenging to draw in these unknown waters of brand humanization. Take a look.
This Twitter user was bragging about finishing a lot of work in one sitting. Firstly, he minded his own business, unlike Microsoft, and secondly, that takes a lot of effort, so congrats to him. Microsoft Office saw the opening for a question and asked him about it. Then they got burned. That’s it.
Fix The Thing!
McDonald’s wasn’t under fire for its ice cream machine for once in this image. Although we are willing to bet that they’d wish people would joke about their ice cream jokes rather than what you’re about to see.
No wonder there isn’t a reply from McDonald’s below that. McDonald’s Canada had tweeted about dropping something that everybody had been waiting for. They might not be expecting that type of a counter-question, though. That one hurts. Really, really bad.
Snitches Get Stitches Part-1
While preparing this list for your enjoyment, we came across a subgenre of companies getting roasted to classify for something called “snitches get stitches.” In this image, you’ll see a Lyft customer or an employee admitting to something that made the company unhappy.
A Twitter user with a self-explanatory handle was tweeting how convenient it is to use Lyft to sell drugs. Lyft tried to take things into their own hands by asking him for his phone number. But they shouldn’t have replied because that guy’s handle says, “@DoNotAtMe!”
Snitches Get Stitches Part-2
The one we saw above was the first part, and this one over here is the second part. Now, within that subgenre, employees often confess to the company’s secrets, and the companies find those employees. Take a look at this image.
In this thread, a user said she ordered food on Zomato. The user also got a corporate confession from the delivery guy that delivery guys with 5-star ratings often get sent far, and he actually begged for a 1-star. Zomato tried to sort things out, but it was unsuccessful.
Snitches Get Stitches Part-3
Here is another installment in the “Snitches Get Stitches” chronology. This one is an own per se, but it is a relatively wholesome. Also, we sincerely hope that Kristen Arnett from Twitter doesn’t snitch. This Twitter user had a lizard encounter. Have a look.
The Twitter user has quite the wholesome story of a lizard encounter. Now, 7eleven tried to get Arnett to snitch on her lizard buddy, but she didn’t give in, and she especially said that she would never “narc” on her buddy like that. That’s really good for them!
Snitches Get Stitches Part-4
We have a little gross one for the fourth installment of Snitches Get Stitches for you, but it also shows solidarity, so it’s nice. Here, an Amazon driver had an unhappy accident with the previous night’s meal in somebody’s driveway. But, there’s a twist.
The good man here didn’t snitch on the person who soiled his driveway. Wow, that’s really understanding and tolerant of the person. Amazon did try to help the guy out, though. But the guy didn’t need any help per se.
Snitches Get Stitches Part-5 (Kinda)
We promise that this one is the last part of the whole Snitches Get Stitches thing. This one is also a bit tricky because the perpetrator seems to have snitched… on himself. The user alerted American Air of a shirtless man who disrupted a flight. Wait for the twist.
This user snitched on himself by tweeting that he was the rowdy shirtless man who was about to disrupt the pleasant flight. What an announcement! But still, he broke the rules, and he squealed. Also, this chronology needs to end.
Wigs For Pets
This Twitter user took her doggo to Petco for a particular service. But she wasn’t thrilled with what she got. So, she took to social media to share her not-so-good experience. Petco tried to make things better, but that didn’t work out.
Upon reading the experience, Petco tried to get the person’s location, but somebody else thought of jumping in and asking Petco how they could even help her now since the milk had already been spilled. Dogs can regrow their fur fast, right?
Grammatical Errors
Sometimes, customers are the ones who are roasting, and sometimes, the companies are feuding with each other, and sometimes, it’s something else. This time, Walmart involuntarily burned itself, thus, making things funnier! After this one, they need a proofreader.
Walmart tried to put up an appreciation post for their employees, but it looks like they were lazy with this one, so they just copy-pasted things. They didn’t bother checking it, and neither did they bother entering the person’s name deserving the appreciation.
Dr. Pepper Joke
Let’s move ahead with another classic self-own. Here, Dr. Pepper tried sharing something that’s not really what it seems to be. Technically, we don’t even know how to define it. Brand humanization gets awkward at times, but this over here is simply weird.
This meme has struck a nerve with the millennials right away. It’s simply weird for a brand to create a meme about an economic crisis just to promote themselves. Dr. Pepper makes excellent soda, but this one is beyond imagination.
Digging Your Own Grave
If you’re working in one particular industry, for instance, oil, you may not want to open your comment section if you are posting about environmental issues for obvious reasons. You should not do that unless you want to get roasted.
BP oil might have had the right intentions while posting about their carbon footprint calculator, and they might have even been excited to announce that. But, we all know very well by now that the Internet never forgives and forgets!
Comeback
Microsoft has been roasted quite a few times in this list, but this one time, they responded pretty amazingly. They tried to be nice to this Twitter user who was searching for a new squad to play Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.
Now, those were quite a few throws at each other, but this user started by taking the opportunity to complain about the Xbox console. Then Microsoft got its A-game and countered the complaint by saying that they now know why nobody plays with him. Ouch.
Great Reply
GameStop doesn’t want to hold anything back. So, in their promo for the Pokémon game, the brand posted an image of a girl standing right next to a rather giant Snorlax pillow. One person on Facebook rudely commented about it, and GameStop got back to them.
GameStop gave a fabulous reply in this one. We don’t know who the commenter is, but we hope the person applied Burnol to soothe the pain. There is no coming back from that kind of a clap back. Great job, GameStop!
Slight Glitch
Wendy’s is one of the leading brands in the game of personalized brand content. You rarely get to see them slipping. Also, it looks like they didn’t use Grammarly to proofread this time. Although this whole thing could have been avoided, we’re glad to witness it.
This Twitter user, who also appears to be a Deadpool-inspired personality, asked Wendy’s about the shape of their patties. Wendy’s had an excellent reply, but they lost it because of their silly spelling mistake, which helped the user roast them.
Witty Comebacks
This Twitter user tried to start a fight with the brand MoonPie. Unfortunately, it was a fight that he started, but it was a fight that he couldn’t finish. MoonPie, unlike other non-genuine personalized brand accounts, is a genuine one. So, this user shouldn’t have taken up this fight.
This guy had a pretty rude reply to MoonPie, but they got right back at the user for it. A wise person or a wise company once said, “Buddy, it’s Saturday night, and you’re talking to a marshmallow sandwich on the Internet.”
The Best To Do It
Since we are talking about brands personalizing their social media content, we can confidently say that MoonPie is one of the leaders in this game. Their Internet persona is sassy, and they do a really great job at it.
Maybe this is the truth behind all the random social media banter between brands that most of the time leads to nothing. It’s good that MoonPie owns up to it, and this tweet shows how good they are at maintaining their social media persona.
Twitter Banter
We all love a good Twitter feud, and Wendy’s is a brand that doesn’t fail to deliver on these. Hooters flew a bit too close to the sun and, as a result, got burned. The moral of this story is to pick on somebody less likely to roast you back, at least for your first feud.
Wendy’s tweeted by asking who wants a roast for the National Roast Day (that exists?). Hooters decided to join in with a quip of their own, but it wasn’t the end for them. They got severely roasted for their non-winter uniforms. We hope they moved on from that.
Wendy’s For The Win
Here is another magical response from Wendy’s. Another Twitter user had some problem with the square burgers at Wendy’s, and Wendy’s looks to have taken things personally. This person should have known that it was coming to him.
The complaint was about their square burgers that seem to be a bit too “artificial.” Wendy’s responded to that with an amazingly sarcastic reply that will even make Chandler Bing proud. But, they also have a point. Burgers can be shaped however you want them to be.
Owned It
The worst experience on the Internet is receiving unsolicited images of somebody’s intimates. So, somebody tried to crack a joke about that on Samsung’s post, and the brand walked right out of it as if it was the easiest thing to do.
Our friends are now the best burn we have seen till now. Hands down, no questions asked. Samsung asked their followers who bought their recent phone to show the first photo they took. Someone had a vague reply, and Samsung had a savage response to that reply.
What’s Your Problem?
You read that one right. Prime Video, out of everybody, tried to roast Minions, out of everything. That’s how random things get on the Internet. However, one angry Mets fan couldn’t take much of it, so he brought the fight to Prime Video.
The person struck them and hit them where it’s supposed to hurt the most. That reply is something you can’t counter. Maybe Prime Video deserved this one because, come on, that’s a video streaming service trying to roast a kids’ movie.
Wholesome
This one, ladies and gents, isn’t a roast, a troll, a burn, an own, or anything of that sort. It’s just so cute that we had to share this one with you. At the time of the SpaceX launch, a cutie took over the show by blocking the cams.
Other than the viral and weird conspiracy theory about birds not being real, nobody could have ever foreseen this epic beauty of a photobomb. Although it might be sad for some viewers since they missed a bit of the SpaceX launch, the falcon looked cute.
Very Random
There it is. We don’t know what’s wrong with these companies trying to chase down beloved kids’ movies. Maybe the people at the other end are just bitter adults. Anyway, it’s still less counterintuitive than a movie streaming service roasting a movie.
The Guardian roasted Shrek, but this Twitter user wasn’t going to let the Guardian get away with what they just said. So, he turned the tables by accusing the news outlet of paying freelancers to start fake feuds. So, the Guardian should learn not to mess with the sentiments of an average Twitter user.
Harsh Comebacks
Here is another Burger King honorable mention. In this tweet, the brand summarizes the top replies of 2019 (Long time, huh?). Some of these replies are actually a nice throwback, but there are a few that’d hurt as well. Take a look.
Redbox replied to Burger King’s tweet summarization, which was really not necessary, so we don’t know why they’d even do that. Yet, they did. Burger King was ready to give them an even harsher reply when they did that. Touche!
Me Vs. Me
If there is one thing that brings in a lot of engagement on social media, it is banter. That’s pretty hot now and always, so it would have worked for Doritos and Cheetos had this noisy customer been bad at his trivial skills. Have a look.
That’s a severe burn. This banter would’ve been a hilarious one if it wasn’t for this user who exposed the truth behind these companies. It’s technically accurate. So, just because of that, this conversation now sounds a bit futile. It’s like someone arguing alone.
Customer Service
Often, the ingenuity of a brand isn’t what is caught off guard while sailing the unknown waters of social media. In Walmart’s situation, these people should have left the surveying part to their customer service. But, we never learn.
This Twitter user appreciated Walmart by saying that he loves spending time there. Walmart didn’t just take it as a compliment. Instead, they decided to survey the person. So, they popped another question, to which they got a hilarious answer.
Unexpected
We seriously don’t know the business of a glass-manufacturing company with a retired British gardener. Reaching out to the demographics is a good strategy, but it didn’t really work out for them as planned. Take a look at this odd interaction.
It’s cute that Specsavers thought that Gerald here would appreciate them. So, when they asked him if he had any tips on stopping his glasses from falling off while gardening, he showed how appreciative he is with his dry humor. Or, maybe it was genuine.
A Cold Answer
Stouffer’s tried to interact with Chelsea Peretti, who plays Gina in Brooklyn 99. She wasn’t in the right mood for it. So, she served Stouffer’s with a cold answer for their frozen dishes. Things didn’t go as planned, we guess.
She was in the mood to eat, but she wasn’t in the mood to talk to a company, and she mentioned just that, in a pretty cruel way. We wonder how the company took that response. That’s a good burn there.
In Your Face!
This one is right in the company’s face. They walked right into it. Sometimes, people have to learn things the hard way. So, if you’re going through something similar, don’t feel bad. It can happen to the best of us.
Now that’s how you roast someone smoothly. ASOS compared themselves with Beyonce, but it didn’t turn out so well. Maybe they should take this incident as a lesson and start working on their refunds. That’ll help them.
Expectations Vs. Reality
Please help us out in this one since we aren’t sure who won this Twitter feud. Well, we aren’t even sure if this Twitter feud is real. It looks like one of these companies was trying to be optimistic while the other was more realistic.
Bojangles, for one, was excited to open up again. They were also delighted to get customers to visit them and order offline rather than online. On the other hand, Eater NY didn’t look so happy. In fact, they seemed grumpy.
Once In A Year
Let us tell you that this callout wasn’t aimed at a particular company. But, it was a burn that was for all the companies using personalized social media strategies. Big-time companies are attempting to mask these tactics as a relatable brand personality.
Here is an example. Many of these vast corporations show a lot of interest and support in the LGBT community. But that only happened when it apparently became “cool.” These companies march out during Pride Month, but they are never seen after that until the following year.
Under The Axe
Take a look at this chain reaction that was not something the companies were expecting. Axe and DiGiorno were starting a social media banter, but out of nowhere, a random user interrupted them and roasted one of them.
We have an alternative theory. What if this Twitter user is secretly working for DiGiorno? We think that’s possible since this guy roasted Axe and almost saved the other company. No matter what it is, we had a good laugh, and we bet you did as well.
TKO
We have seen a few roasts and burns so far, but this one isn’t similar to what we have seen until now. Although it was a roasting and owning thing, it was a successful interaction between the two brands! This feud is the kind that people want to see.
Old Spice started with a really, really strong point. But, no matter how good and how hard their blow was, we’d declare Taco Bell as the winner since their blow was a knockout. That was lovely and satisfying to witness.
Away From The Screen
Most of you might know that LinkedIn is famous for its posts by inspirational people. If not that, then at least those who try to be passionate. This company tried to profit from that reputation on Twitter, not LinkedIn, but that couldn’t happen.
LinkedIn India was checking up on the motivation of their Twitter followers when they got a fantastic reply from an Indian user. Honestly, that is the case for many since Linkedin is full of people excelling in different fields, and sometimes, you might feel bad about your accomplishments.
Battle Of The Giants
Wendy’s serves the best food, but we know it isn’t number one in the world. We know who’s numero uno. Although they aren’t the most popular burgers, Wendy still has a lot of fans worldwide who appreciate them for their sassy content.
This piece of content is one of those pieces that give their fans a reason to appreciate their sassiness. Wendy’s is pretty brave and attentive to point out the obvious thing, and they’re the ones taking it home. McDonald’s needs to work on its tweets and ice cream machine.
Pets
If you have ever been on the Internet and you’re here, you must know that pets are so loved that they’re almost considered sacred, and they’re digitally worshiped. Dogs and cats are the ones who get the majority of this treatment.
This Twitter user took no time to point out that blaming little pets and their owners for the current state of the environment makes no sense. But, he did that in a very stylish way. On a serious note, though, we are responsible for reusing, reducing, and recycling.
It’s Not What You See
Arby’s walked right into the trap that they so unknowingly laid. When that happened, it led to much criticism on the Internet. As far as we have seen until now, all of it only comes in the brand’s favor as customers always share grievances.
This Twitter user shared a picture next to the picture of a burger from Arby’s. This image is more like an expectation vs. reality meme. Fast-food chains often take unrealistic photos of their burgers, setting unrealistic expectations that are never really met.
Don’t Mess With Celebs
Until now, these brands should have learned not to interact with celebs if their brand deal isn’t prearranged. But, Real Kraft Mayo learned things the hard way, just like Stouffer’s did. They saw an opening in Dionne Warwick’s Twitter, but that’s not it.
That’s a big ouch, and that’s a massive lesson that companies should learn. The moral is to simply leave a tweet or a post if it’s not about you or your opinion. When you do that, things like these happen, and you’ve to face embarrassment.
Roasted
It looks like Arby’s has been posting a lot, and it also seems as if things aren’t going well for them. Lastly, sadly, it also looks as if their food chain is being roasted well. Even TV host Jon Stewart started roasting the place.
Arby’s did a very innocent thing by using the Emoji Mashup Bot, which makes them look cute, and it’s also a good marketing strategy. But, this Twitter user didn’t leave the chance when she saw it, and she did it really well.