Wingstop's Jab At Popeyes Has Backfired Horribly On Twitter
In today's world of social media-driven marketing, it's not uncommon to see companies taking shots at each other over Twitter or Facebook. The Wendy's Twitter account is the perfect example, filled with snarky remarks and "clapbacks" directed to other burger joints. But for something that's just another PR act in this day and age, it seems that this particular method of self-promotion by being "relatable" seems to have divided some.
As The Factory Times discusses, the idea of company-owned social media accounts trying to be "quirky" and "epic" have caught the ire of a few individuals, who view the accounts as another example of marketing corrupting and subverting genuine Internet behavior and interactions to promote a brand or a product. Think of it like that one Steve Buscemi meme: "How do you do, fellow kids?" It's not so much as authentic as it is an attempt to seem cool and modern with a younger marketing group. While this is a fair argument, those snarky social media accounts have done wonders for the companies they represent: CNBC reports that these types of Twitter accounts rack up millions of followers and a couple thousand retweets each time. There's no such thing as bad publicity, as they say.
For Wingstop's Twitter account, it seems that a particularly snappy comment aimed at chicken chain Popeyes didn't get the response it desired. While many people did respond to it, it wasn't with the glowing praise and plentiful retweets the Wingstop marketing team was probably expecting.
Wingstop's attempt at being snarky failed
On September 25, Popeyes' Twitter posted an image of a woman's hand holding its classic chicken sandwich, with the tweet simply captioned "Period." While this was obviously meant to show how delicious and fantastic the chicken sandwich was supposed to be, Wingstop retweeted the image, captioning it as "Sandwich is more dry than them biscuits." This attempt at sounding like a cool kid making a casual, quick-witted remark was met with some disdain by the Twitter community at large.
"Yes, you guys are much better at knowing the proper amount to cook a chicken. You guys dm'd me last time and left me on read btw," wrote "claude," who posted an image of his Wingstop chicken sandwich that had been left raw in the middle. "A+ customer service."
"I love eating roach with my fries and them wings I paid $20 for with nothing but bones," said "Su Arun," posting an image of their rather paltry-looking Wingstop meal. "I remember I applied at one of your locations and the manager on shift was asking me weird and racial sensitive questions," claimed another Twitter user. "Still haven't heard anything since ..."
In Wingstop's defense, the company did promise to direct message each of the complaints and work to resolve the issue, but the obvious problem still stands. Wingstop does have its own selection of chicken sandwiches, making it even stranger why the chain simply didn't promote those instead of snapping back at Popeyes over its sandwich.