On October 21, the first post was made, a simple slideshow of the seasonal purple spider donut growing closer and closer to the screen, claiming charge of the Dunkin’ Instagram page. In a week span, the donut has made 11 other posts, of varying absurdity, the majority of which is random nonsense, but a couple are actual advertising for the company. For example, on October 23, there was a post made for Purple Spider Donut merchandise, which very quickly sold out. Unfortunately, on October 29, Purple Spider Donut’s access to the Dunkin Instagram account was revoked, as a few short hours beforehand, Spider Donut posted the Holiday Menu in exchange for one like.
The recent trend in these types of posts is directed at the younger generations on social media, trying to grab their attention and get them interested in buying their products. The average company spends about 10% of their revenue on advertising. New companies typically set aside about 30% as they try to increase their market share
Mr. Zawadski, US government and history teacher, recalls how different advertising used to be, now there are ads everywhere “You can’t possibly escape them(advertisements).” Zawadski says how ads are now targeted directly to us, it used to be just product placement, but now it goes so far beyond that. Advertisements now are all about making everything seem new and better, when in reality it’s just the same old thing it’s always been. Nobody needs the new and sparkly products that come out, but the companies convince us we do, “It causes us as a society to keep on buying and purchasing.”
Digital Media and Technology teacher, Mr. DiStefano, says that the most important part of advertising is knowing your audience. If you don’t know your audience, then there is less of a chance that your ad will have the effect you want it to. “It’s all about knowing who you’re trying to market towards, who’s going to see the ad. If you know your audience, you can sell anything,” said DiStefano. Knowing who is going to be seeing your ad is the most important part of smart advertising, using different styles and designs to attract the right audience is imperative.
Similar to Dunkin, the Wendy’s Instagram page has changed its posting style to that of a meme format. Many of their posts are reels or pictures that follow popular trends on social media. Wendy’s is currently doing a collab with SpongeBob, so the majority of their recent posts have involved the notable SpongeBob characters. When, at the beginning of the summer, Charli XCX’s new album “brat” was trending, Wendy’s posted a green screen with the word “beef”, referencing Charli’s album.
Using celebrities to promote products is nothing new, this trend started back in the 1930s with Babe Ruth’s endorsement of Red Rock Cola. Since then, it has evolved into movie stars and famous names in pop culture being used to promote products. Many celebrities have paid partnerships with companies, such as Taylor Swift’s partnership with Diet Coke. Swift is featured in television ads, printed ads, and digital advertising for the drink. Signing onto a partnership with Diet Coke made Swift a reported $26 million.
Junior Austin Borkowski said that seeing celebrities in advertisements doesn’t influence him, “Honestly, I cringe a little bit because you can tell that they’re really trying to get their brand out there, it’s just a little too much.” On the opposing side, junior Camryn Mazzarella said that if she likes the celebrity she is more likely to be influenced and buy the product, however, if it’s a celebrity she does not like then she is considerably less likely to purchase that product.
Nutter Butter has taken a slightly different approach, going for a more cynical, unsettling type of posting. Most of Nutter Butter’s Instagram posts have distorting filters and confusing images. The posts they’re making don’t seem to be for the purpose of advertising, simply because there is so much going on in the videos, but none of it seems to do with the actual cookie. Multiple people on social media have brought up the concerning amount of posts being made, and the nature of the posts, yet nobody is quite sure what is actually going on.
What Nutter Butter is doing is a great example of guerilla advertising. Guerilla advertising is when ads pop up in seemingly random spaces, especially when the places are unusual for what the ad is for, with a relatively unhinged style of ad. For example, the yellow crossing lines on the street are painted to look like french fries coming out of a McDonald’s container.
A post was made on August 16, by what appears to be the Nutter Butter HQ, stating the account was hacked by an unknown entity, however, within the post is an encrypted message that people in the comments have deciphered to say “Nadia” and the Morse-code type caption says TikTok, clearly proving that the post is not an actual answer to what has been going on.
