Want Free Wendy’s Nuggets for a Year? It’ll Cost You 18 Million Retweets
I don’t know how much Wendy’s pays their social media team (honestly, I don’t know how much anyone pays any social media team), but unlike some other brands, the people running the burger chain’s Twitter account continue to earn their keep. Granted, at least once, Wendy’s has found itself in a bit of hot water because of its tweets; still, the company has had some newsworthy interactions precisely because it’s been willing to take risks-like offering to give away free chicken nuggets for a year.
Yes, just this week, the fast food giant was at it again. Twitter user Carter Wilkerson, a self-described liker of chicken nuggets, tweeted to Wendy’s: “Yo @Wendys how many retweets for a year of free chicken nuggets?”
Literally, one minute later, Wendy’s account fired back: “18 Million.”
Clearly, that number was intended more as a joke than a challenge. As Mashable points out, the most retweeted tweet in the history of Twitter is currently Ellen DeGeneres’ “Best photo ever” tweet from the 2014 Oscars at a paltry 3.2 million retweets. Wikerson would have to get over five times as many retweets as a picture featuring about a dozen of the world’s most famous celebrities to get his free yearlong chicken fix.
But that isn’t stopping him from trying. A few minutes later, Wilkerson tweeted out a screengrab of his interaction with Wendy’s adding, “HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS.” As it stands right now, that post has an impressive 934,000 retweets: a long way from his goal, but impressive for a guy with just 3,500 followers.
In fact, even Wendy’s is impressed. “Honestly has gotten way more RTs than we expected,” the brand’s account wrote.
However, despite Wilkerson’s impressive run, as well as continued Twitter pleas that Wendy’s lower the RT threshold to a more reasonable number, the burger chain has apparently yet to make any concessions when it comes to getting Wilkerson his NUGGS unless he hits the original goal. Who’d have thought viral marketing could be so cruel?
