What to Do About Popular Twitter Trolls
By Jackson Lewis on Jul. 20, 2017ATLANTA -- If you haven’t scrolled through the Nihilist Arby’s Twitter page, you’re in for a shockingly hilarious surprise.
Tweets on the page include uplifting messages such as, “Someday you and every single thing you’ve ever known or loved will cease to exist. Eat Arby’s.” Then there’s, “Lots of other fast food twitters say crap like ‘fries make everything okay.’ But you know what? Life sucks and the fries do nothing. Eat Arby’s.” And those are milder examples. Many of the pages tweets are too crude to share here. Many openly insult the Arby’s brand.
Nihilist Arby’s is in no way associated with the real Arby’s Twitter account but it has a sizable following. At the time of this article’s posting, Nihilist Arby’s had about 292,000 followers. To put that in perspective, the official Arby’s Twitter page has around 752,000 followers.
Plenty of brands, convenience stores included, are dealing with similar issues. Whether it’s disgruntled employees or consumers who dislike a brand, many chains have to contend with disparaging Twitter accounts, or trolls, with an impossible-to-ignore following.
Business Insider recently reported how Arby’s reached out to the creator of the Nihilist Arby in a creative way that other brands might be able to learn from. Here's a rundown of how Arby’s made peace with its strangest critic …
Unmask the troll
Brendan Kelly, Chicago adman and former front man for a few touring punk bands, launched his Nihilist Arby’s Twitter account on Jan. 14, 2015, and continues to maintain the page today. Arby’s corporate team knew of Kelly’s identity months after the parody account was live and collecting followers, but they weren’t sure how to proceed at first.
"Do you write a cease-and-desist letter?" CEO Paul Brown said to Business Insider. "The way I look at it is, 'What kind of person do you want to be a friend with?' You don't want to be a friend with that kind of a person who's defensive and you can't joke around."
Lighten the mood
The punk-band member turned adman earned himself a three-page profile in Adweek for his Twitter hijinks, but managers at the ad agency he worked for were afraid the stunt would reflect poorly on their company, so they forbid Kelly and anyone else in the office from talking about Nihilist Arby’s.
As Kelly was leaving the office early for a job interview he had landed thanks to the Adweek profile, he was told that representatives from Arby’s were waiting for him in the lobby.
There, Kelly was greeted by members of the Arby’s marketing team, a bag of Arby’s sandwiches and a black Labrador puppy. They also gave Kelly a note that read, “Cheer up, buddy. You live in a world with puppies … and sandwiches.”
Reap the rewards
Kelly subsequently tweeted a photo of himself with the puppy, the sandwiches and the note on his personal Twitter account: “Man, @Arbys … thanks for making my day. Sincerely. I had so many things I wanted to ask you. Next time, eh?”
The Nihilist Arby’s creator had to leave the impromptu meeting quickly to make it to his interview, but both parties left with good impressions of the other.
It’s unclear whether or not Nihilist Arby’s insults have cost the chain sales or if the peace offering repaired any of that damage, but approaching Kelly in a non-confrontational way took some of the bite out of the Twitter page’s insults. The action also assured fans of the brand that it can take a joke.
A strategy like this won’t work for every annoying parody Twitter account, but it’s an important lesson that winning on social media means being creative and not taking yourself too seriously.
Bonus examples
Arby’s has a history of fending off funny critics. Jon Stewart, former host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, famously made fun of Arby’s whenever he got the chance on his show.
“It’s like shock and awe for your bowels,” Stewart said once. There was also, “Come for the tweets, run from the meats,” and, “Why not challenge your stomach to a fight?”
When Jon Stewart retired in 2015, Arby’s sent him off with a heartfelt TV ad that showcased some of his finest Arby’s insults and ended with the words, “Not sure why, but we’ll miss you.” It also tweeted, “Jon, feel free to reach out to us at careers@arbys.com.” And those are only a couple of examples of what Arby's did to wish Jon Stewart a fond and image-saving farewell.
- For a how-to on tackling conventional social-media trolls, take a look at how Wendy’s responds to online insults.