From dick pics to anilingus to impregnated mascots, social marketing has entered its carnal era.
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The history of brand personification on Twitter islongand filled with #authenticity fails.
(Full disclosure: I formerly worked as the writer behind anangsty frozen-meat brand.)
Soon, every consumer category and institution was embracing corporate personification, includinggovernment agenciesanddepartmentsandentire statesandcountries.
For a time, acting sassy or edgy was enough for brands seeking to break through the social-media noise.
These days, however, the golden ticket is actinghorny.
Marketers were quick to notice and acquiesce.
Some brands were subtle about their newfound horniness:69 jokes,sliding into DMs,swiping right.
But as more risks tend to yield more rewards online, things escalated.
And what does our overstimulated future look like?
Lets relive the history of horny brands to find out.
All screenshots included below are tweets that have been deleted but not forgotten.
20142017: From Bae to BDSM
Our story begins in the Wild West of 2014.
Brands had little oversight and few industry guidelines.
(Who could forget when US Airways accidentallytweeted pornat a customer?)
One way they let loose was by gratuitously using trending terms likebruhandbae.
Brands rarely published explicit sexual references intentionally, but Virgin America took a chance duringPride Month.
While the general public hadnt bought into hornyposting yet, furries were loud and proud.
The community begged Tony the Tiger for sex in 2016 until itbullied him off the platformin 2018.
By then,Chester Cheetahwas its newdaddy.
@WitchyCats@CasualFennecI welcome all fans to my twitter feed.
Scales, feathers, or fur, if you enjoy my tweets then welcome!
A few months later, Jimmy Johns gave a wink and a nod to this viralmeme.
MoonPie and Wendysflirtedin January a still innocent yet foreboding thread.
@WendysI think you are very pretty
Once No Nut November hit its abstinence-urgingviral peak, everything changed.
And to the confusion of everyone on Twitter, Burger King came prepared.
Although the joke wasnt in the first person, it was received as if the brand itself were hornyposting.
by reminding people that peanuts arent actually nuts; theyre in the legume family.
The mascot ended the month with a simple acknowledgement after some viral success.
Now that#NoNutNovemberis over, just resume snacking in peace and privacy.
It was a nice year
Another one was sliding into DMs, which had been widely used since 2014.
We’re not the jot down to slide into your DMs.
Until this point, personified brands on social media were still broadly considered novel.
New contenders were constantly emerging, the landscape was less inundated, but things were about to heat up.
On the flip side, many brands began growing stan bases by tapping into specific subcultures.
The brand wentviralmonths later for asking people, Wheres the craziest place youve nutted?
in a now-deleted tweet.
Devour launched a Super Bowlcommercialthat rolled out hashtags like#FreeTheFoodPornand#3MinuteMen.
In fact, Netflix progressively sprinkled morehorny contentthrough itsaccountsall year,interactingacross countries and shows.
Netflix and chillmemeshad peaked years earlier, but they were now being integrated into a global marketing strategy.
That said, the years most cursed moment came from known meat haver Arbys, which introduced its ownwaifu.
Our#DrawThisInYourStylestarts now!
The Arby’s Waifu is ready.
This whipped up amedia frenzy, mainstreaming the phenomenon.
Unfortunately, the novelty had worn off.
as well as spammed images of a man penetrating a raw chicken (hyperlinks will not be provided).
The brand did its best to hide explicit images.
@Florence_Pugh
2020 was off to the races.
Then pandemic blue balls hit.
Quarantine made peopleexcessively horny, leading to excessivehornyposting.
But COVIDs aura put a plug in brand shenanigans, horny or otherwise.
And in September, Tinder India showed some thirst for the cricket star Rahul Tewatia.
Is Rahul Tewatia single?
Asking for a friend.
But nothing could stop what was coming.
People were tired of PSAs and ready for more unhinged corporate titillation.
Things started slow with Build-A-Bear advertising after dark adult content.
Then Totinos made a lipless Tinder profile meme.
Classic brand content, really.
Be honest, would you swipe right?
pic.twitter.com/Dq6gHCuzcd
Skittles announced to the world that it was single.
feliz jueves chavalespic.twitter.com/aNEul7bCui
Shortly after, SpongeBob reminisced about the timeSquidwardimagined his rival Squilliam topless.
No, it wasnt hacked.
Yes, thetweetis still up.
Tushy shouted out bottoms for Pride Month, a fitting double entendre for a bidet brand.
As a bidet company, we would be nothing without bottoms.
That’s why they put me in charge of our pride campaign.
Later that month, Dennys referred to itself as Daddys and knew exactly what it was doing.
WE SAID YES!!!!
Someone asked if we’re always horny on main.
This trajectory continued on Twitter, while a similar one was starting on TikTok.
This unrequited down-bad campaign continued into 2022.
Peanuts and Corn Nuts books.
No WHAT November??
2022: Just the Tipping Point
Horny-brand critical mass was quickly approaching.
As engagement grew, the brand deleted the post, apologized, and ended upfiringits social-media manager.
Theviral incidentwas a reminder that there are stillsomelimits in this absurd landscape.
The very next week, Oregon baseball team the Portland Pickles posted an accidental pickle pic.
As a baseball team, they clearly arent constrained by the same guardrails as most CPG and QSR brands.
Users rewarded BarkBox with its highest performing TikToks to date, so naturally the brandcontinuestomemeabout it.
Speaking of Twitter, ashitposterspread a viral rumor in April that Snickers had removed the candy bars dick veins.
Rather than running PR cover, the brand took this opportunity to announce that the veins remained.
As Winston Churchill once said, Never let a good crisis go to waste.
Good news, contrary to what’s trending on Twitter…
THE VEINS REMAIN!pic.twitter.com/pzfkoYqvyD
Oh, and Fleshlight couldnt resist chiming in.
okay, i like it, picasso.
On April 19, horny-brand history changed forever with the DuolingoScrub Daddy collab users had been waiting for.
These two horsed around with a few TikTok videos before culminating in Scrub Daddy getting Duo pregnant.
Our story doesnt end here.
In May, Hot Pockets jumped into the deep end.
There must have been something in the water.
KFC decided to play along.
Was it a Pride Month Easter egg?
But the post has since been unliked, leaving us with more questions than answers.
Whatever you do, dont click its Hidden Tweets button.
The brand wasunapologetic, and a media frenzy ensued, including coverage byCNNandNBC.
If you find a squirter marry her.
After getting the reaction it was after, the strategy continued.
due to inflation 6 inches is now 9 inches
.
@Wingstopcraving u inside me
This is where society is now.
Horny crypto outrage bait.
Mascots having sex for clicks.
But social media did make it a lot,lothornier.
