Mind on my Burger, Burger on my mind
Whataburger and its Fellow Social Brands
Whataburger is a fast-food chain restaurant in the Southern United States that is very popular in Texas, my home state. It is open 24 hours and serves some of the best American style food I've ever tasted. By growing up on this food and eventually it becoming a regular hangout spot in high school, it has always been around for me. Recently, it has been a more relevant part of my every day life as it has changed the game of social media, following in the footsteps of other companies. Many corporations are getting into the social media hype that has occurred. Whataburger has personally affected me due to my love for the food chain, and the comical tweets it produces on a regular basis. There is just something about a food chain or commercial business using slang in social media that gives customers and the general public a positive vibe about the company. For instance, Whataburger once tweeted “Got my mind on my burger and my burger on my mind,” which is a spin off of a famous line that appears in a song by Snoop Dog. This line has been ripped of by other rappers as well such as Flo Rida, YOUNGBLOODZ, and more: “Got my mind on my money and my money on my mind”.
This tweet is humorous because it uses hip hop lyrics to talk about it’s burgers, and compare them to money in a casual tone.
IHOP performed a similar act a few months before in a tweet that received lots of love from twitter users.
This tweet is a play off of the first line of Missy Elliott’s ‘Work it.’ Younger generation feel as if corporations shouldn't really know about slang or what younger generations listen to because they typically aren't perceived as young or ‘cool.’ So, when they do use it, it catches people’s attention. Whataburger has many tweets also using other slang terms and phrases such as BAE, and ‘caught slippin.’ This is very peculiar that Whataburger, Ihop, and other companies are so active on social media when just a few years ago this type of behavior was unheard of. This boom in activity is most likely a way to reach out to the masses on social media through these pages as a form of free advertising that will attract a younger audience. These companies want to seem ‘cool.’
I have also noticed that companies are catching on to twitter trends and joining in on them, such as the once trending hashtag: #5WordDealBreakers.
These companies hope that by joining in on these trends, they will seem more human and will attract more customers. This fad has become such a phenomenon that there is now an entire twitter account named @BrandsSayingBae. This account points out through its own searches, and through reports from followers such as the one seen above, different brands using slang, lyrics, memes, and other pop culture references on twitter. Some of its examples are humorous or catchy, but many are just to point out failed attempts that brands have made at being ‘cool’. One example is when Kroger attempted to mimic a meme while advertising their pies.
Memes are popular around the internet as being relatable and/or comical pictures with captions as seen above, but here Kroger just copied the format of a meme and put their pie with a quote about pie on it. This is an ineffective attempt at humor, but nonetheless they are still getting publicity out of it. They themselves received 93 re-tweets, and by being featured on Brands Saying Bae, although it was making fun of, 120 more people re-tweeted the picture. So, although they failed to achieve a status of ‘cool’ or ‘hip,’ they were still able to get their product recognized. This trend of social media use has become such a fad that a study was performed and it reported: “four hundred and thirteen companies (83%) of the Fortune 500 have corporate Twitter accounts with a tweet in the past thirty days.” This study shows growth in the last two years, meaning companies that were not already bought into the idea are being won over from results that rivals are achieving. In a guest lecture in our class by Michael J. Miraflor, VP of Strategy at Zenith Media, he discussed how in his line of work he uses media to get his client’s name or brand out in the world where it can be seen. One point that he touched on is that sometimes brands get a large spike in their followers on Twitter when they tweet certain things. An example of this is when Denny’s experienced a spike in followers one day around the end of May or early June. The tweet that made this huge spike in growth is one that they paid thousands of dollars for, likely through a hired social media representative, and it received tons of publicity.
This tweet does not even have a complete sentence, and yet because it is comical and uses familiar internet language, the tweet blew up and gained Denny’s a tremendous amount of followers. Other companies have seen this and followed with similar actions. Sometimes, a brand tweets just the right thing and catch everyone’s attention. The breakfast food brands seem to have a pretty decent handle of social media usage, as Ihop and Denny’s both have over 200,000 followers. Ihop has many tweets involving slang and references to a younger culture that gain them popularity. A favorite is a tweet from October of last year.
This is particularly funny because they make a reference to a phrase which is sexually provocative: “Back That A** Up,” as is written in a song by Juvenile. This is a third example of companies using popular lyrics in their tweets. Although this is not necessarily ‘classy’ or ‘professional’, it gained them some cool points with younger generations.
Another technique that is often seen on twitter is brands tweeting live while major events are occurring that social media users would also be watching or participating in. Some examples are shown on the left.
The first tweet references the obviously clueless “left shark” that became famous after doing completely different choreography than any other character in the most recent Super-Bowl half time show with Katy Perry.
The second tweet is a reference to a huge internet debate over a picture of a dress that appeared as either white and gold or blue and black to different people. Whataburger took this opportunity to settle the issue by photo shopping the picture to make the dress white and orange which is their brand’s colors. This is yet another example of how Whataburger stays active with trends as they occur.
These tweets are meant to show customers that these brands are relatable and are interested in similar issues as their fans and customers. Through these channels, brands hope to gain a following that will lead to loyal, paying customers.
Apple and its Relevance
Something that many articles reviewing this issue fail to mention is brands that are ‘cool’, that do not engage in social media. There is one brand in particular that most likely anyone that has been on the internet in the last two decades is familiar with which presents a peculiar situation. Its name is Apple.
Apple is obviously seen as a ‘cool’ brand in the U.S. as proven by the multitudes of iPhones, MacBooks, iPods, iPads, etc. in millions of households, offices, classrooms, and just about anywhere you go in this country. However, they do not use twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or any other social media to gain this reputation. They have gained fame off of popularity of their product alone. Sure, their sleek design and user friendliness helps, but how are they able to out-compete all competition by astronomical numbers what seems to be effortlessly? Maybe the answer is in the question. It seems as though Apple is able to provide products that people love with no effort involved. They use very clear, soft-spoken TV commercials to help sell their products, and then they let recommendation from its customers do the rest.
In the 21st century, during high school and college, you are an outsider if you do not have an iPhone. People question where your smart phone is and ask how you would be able to survive without one and then silently or not so silently judge those who have Androids or Samsung as lesser technologically savvy people. “Darn you for turning the group messages green” is something I have seen said first hand to someone with an android that was in a group message with several other iPhone users and I. This was stated because when to Apple devices message, it is through iMessage in which messages appear blue, but when there is a non-apple product involved, the messages are green. This is such a minor detail that actually does not matter in the grand scheme of things, but it still manages to make some people feel left out, and therefore gives them a desire to purchase an Apple device. Apple uses these subtle techniques to gain customers without reaching out in social media and it works for them, tremendously.
The Media and its Definitions
Another interesting subject in young adult and teenage slang is the media’s take on it. The media seems to have a problem with letting younger generations using their own language without having some sort of way to figure out what the slang means. This has been occurring since at least the 1930's when Hepster’s dictionary first came out. It’s as if the media insists on defining slang so that older generations are not left out of the younger generations fads. One example in an article done by TIME magazine.
TIME was heavily criticized for this article by many readers as well as other less-popular newsletters and bloggers. The twitter hashtag #TIMETitles was soon created by Twitter users and was seen far and wide as people made up humorous titles for other pieces TIME might now write. Some examples include “Who in the world is Daquan, anyway?” “If a Tree Falls in a Forest and No-One Hears it, Does it Throw Shade,” and “’Turn Down For What?’ The Secret Shame of The Hearing Impared in The Black Community”.
One can search for a definition of almost any slang word or phrase, and an article from a news source or blog defining it will show up. If this fails, then the ‘all-knowing’ Urbandictionary.com should be able to help you decipher what those darn kids are saying these days, although definitions are user-written, so its not the most reliable source. However, urban dictionary is more evidence of exactly what is being portrayed here. The fact that there is an online dictionary to define slang terms used by today’s younger generations is proof that no one can just leave it alone, although urban dictionary is often used by younger people to define bizarre terms they are also unaware of. There is another example of defining slang that appears much earlier in time that was discussed in the #swag class earlier in the semester. This was Hepster’s dictionary, a guide to jive talk. This dictionary, published in 1939, was the first to be published by a black man. This dictionary is a way for older white people to understand the language of jive. It is peculiar that Cab Calloway would write this book, as it was somewhat aimed towards a white crowd.
Where Slang Originates
This leads into a final point. A lot of slang used today and in the past comes from black people. Whether it be jive talk from the thirties, or hip hop slang from today, the words that black people say or make up seem to stick and be more catchy. One prime example of this is the coining of the phrase “on fleek,” which began with a black woman stating that her eyebrows were “on fleek.” This short video soon became famous on a social media featuring 6 second videos known as Vine.
This very random video began a saying that became so popular, it is now being copied by brand names, bringing us full circle.
A simple phrase made up by someone on the spot can turn in to a giant social craze, which in turn incentivises big name brands to gain respect and seem ‘cool’ to their customers and fans of younger generations.
It is somewhat amusing to see older generations try to describe younger generation slang and phrases as well as use them. They will never be able to truly understand it all due to the fact that they are more than likely not immersed in the culture. Middle aged and older people do not use these terms or live lives that require them to be used. Although this is true, I do enjoy seeing funny tweets from my favorite place to eat as I scroll through my twitter feed. So as far as Whataburger and other brands go, I say don’t stop the humor and ‘keep it real’.
