Generation Z has taken over TikTok, and the recent attention garnered through the now infamous Nutter Butter TikTok account — with over 25 million views on their three most recent videos — has only made this fact more apparent.
Despite many universities teaching similar tactics when it comes to social media marketing, Nutter Butter, Sour Patch Kids, Wendy’s and even the MLB social media accounts have become subject to interns that, for all intents and purposes, could not care less about people questioning their artistic visions.
Major League Baseball league’s official TikTok, for example, posted pictures Saturday that simply said:
“Yesterday evening at approximately 12:30 a.m. EST., the MLB TikTok Admin, while replaying ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ for the 40th time, decided it would be funny if MLB’s official TikTok page posted 50 straight videos of Shohei Ohtani to commemorate his historic achievement. Having already posted 15 videos over the previous 2 days, that leaves a mere 35 to go. We hope you will join us on this journey.”
The next slide featured a picture of Ohtani’s face on the body of Mr. Waternoose from “Monster’s Inc.” The post has 770,000 views, with the following 35 posts adding up to well over 3 million views combined.
While the MLB is posting pictures of “Monster’s Inc.” characters with the faces of their players on them, Sour Patch Kids is simply and boldly going where no man has gone before.
The most recent video on the Sour Patch Kids TikTok account holds within a simple statement, “made u some sourp.” Within the video is the creator putting Sour Patch Kids in soup. The account has over a million views on their most recent videos, with a pinned TikTok that garnered 21 million views.
The Wendy’s TikTok account, while slightly more tame, is of a similar personality. One of their most recent videos features a yodeling duo along with a dancing vanilla frosty that reads in all capital letters, “I’M TIRED OF BEING CONTROLLED BY A CALENDAR THE VANILLA FROSTY IS BACK.” This video was less popular, yet still received 15,000 views.
Finally, Nutter Butter’s TikTok account may make one question if “Moulin Rouge!” is the tamest form of media ever made. The Nutter Butter TikTok almost seems to be going for an ominous vibe, with what could be AI-created videos that very often turn dark.
For example, one recent video is a stitch of another video of someone asking if Nutter Butter is okay, which they interject with two dancing Nutter Butter cookies on an open field of purple, both with disturbing faces put on them. One looks eerily similar to a photo attached to an internet horror story known as “Jeff the Killer.”
Over the past few weeks, more and more have been noticing how odd TikTok and social media marketing have gotten for major companies.
Anabelle Minchew is a sophomore animal and dairy science major who believes that these new forms of marketing are a breath of fresh air.
“I think it relates to our generation and makes [the brands] more trustworthy, thus making us more likely to buy their products,” Minchew said.
“We used to think these accounts were boring and that they were not selling quality.” Minchew continued, “But now, we love it. They’re sassy, it’s cool.”
Dennis Nunnally, a junior accounting major on the other hand, disagrees.
“It’s unprofessional, it’s gimmicky, it’s up in your face and obnoxious and some of it is downright weird,” Nunnally said. “When I think of Nutter Butters I should be thinking of peanut butter cookies, not their concerning social media posts that weird you out. Like seriously, one of them has a sensitive content warning — it is a cookie account — make that make sense.”
These are not the only accounts that fall into the edgy social media marketing account category. Others such as the Sunny-D Instagram page, the Chicago White Sox X account and even Porche are beginning to go headlong into the practice of unconventional marketing practices on social media.
In a world with more social media marketing majors than major corporations, the rising popularity of the extreme eccentricities within major brands begs the question as to whether that will be the rule going forward.
Michael Breazeale, professor of marketing and the assistant editor of the Journal of Product and Brand Management, teaches social media marketing at Mississippi State University. Breazeale noted the challenge these accounts bring.
“It’s difficult to teach these kinds of interactions because it requires a pretty dry sense of humor combined with a thorough understanding of the brand’s personality. Brands always need to be perceived as authentic, and the way they represent themselves on social media is one of the primary ways that many of them express their personalities” Breazeale said.
Breazeale did note how students can relate to these companies, however.
“The good news for our students is that they are digital natives who have grown up with an Internet and social media culture,” Breazeale said. “They have a better feel for the kinds of interactions that brands can use effectively because they have interacted with them for years.”
While popular with some, these accounts simply leave more questions than answers, and students keep an eye on these brands now more than ever. Some could argue that because of this, these eccentric accounts have ultimately succeeded.
