Can we talk about how ridiculous today was?
It feels like we’ve reached some kind of turning point. As a cultural idea, when hacking becomes a tool for social media marketers, it has well and truly left the domain of Angelina Jolie and Johnny Lee Miller.
I am, of course, referring to the time MTV and BET faked a hack on their own Twitter accounts. And then Denny’s posted a little joke of its own with a photo of waffles — or were they pancakes?
Maybe I’m just getting old, but when major entertainment brands are pretending that they’ve been hacked, I feel like I’m living in Bizarro World. If you want to understand cognitive dissonance, just think about the fact that MTV pointed to “the spirit of corporate camaraderie” in order to explain a tweet declaring, “MMM. THIS BURGER TASTES GOOD!!!!!!!!!!”
Yes, sir. Corporate camaraderie.
To be clear, I know, uh, next to nothing when it comes to actual hacking. And the real hacking and fake hacking aren’t entirely separate: MTV and BET hopped on this because it really was starting to seem like every big-brand Twitter account (well, Burger King and Jeep) had been hacked. Plus, hacking was on everyone’s mind anyway, because of attacks on large tech companies like Facebook and Apple. Still, when it becomes part of a company’s social media marketing, well, we’ve crossed some kind of threshold.
So yes. Peak hack. Savor it. Not that we’ll see an end to hacking jokes and memes. Indeed, this might only be the beginning.