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The Daily Carnage

april 3, 2025

Stunts & Stinkers

*Minion mic drop*

Do Ya Know?

Some April Fools campaigns create real brand problems. Which brand is responsible for the infamous 2016 “Minion Mic Drop” fiasco?

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The Daily Carnage Show

Episode 7: April Fools! Brand Stunts and Stinkers

TDCS 1.7

This week, Shannon recaps this year’s best and worst April Fools campaigns, including:

  • Molly Baz’s breast milk mayo
  • Blackweek’s powerful political statement
  • Duolingo’s 5-year Carnival cruise
  • Yahoo and DBrand both launch “Touch Grass” concepts
  • Poppi x Tower 28, plus Olipop x Hidden Valley Ranch
  • Blume’s Pou-Pourri mix
  • GlassesUSA’s microfiber clothing line
  • Canva’s foreground remover
  • Josh Cellars x Joss & Main’s wine-stained furniture
  • Lipton Ice Tea’s April Fools flop

🎙️ Stream it now:

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YouTube
Amazon Music
Apple Podcast

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What We Learned

Monday: TikTok changed the podcasting game. When you break down your podcast episodes into bite-sized, high-impact clips, you can reach massive new audiences—especially younger listeners who may not have otherwise discovered your content.

Tuesday: Persuasive copy is what turns skeptics into product believers. Let’s say you’re writing copy for a highly experienced and discerning audience. Here’s how to change minds with your copywriting.

Wednesday: Wondering how the dead-mascot stunt paid off for Duolingo in Q1? Embed Social analyzed 1,336 social posts to find out. Here are the key insights about sentiment.

Thursday: Intentional interactions—sending a DM, tagging your brand in a post, or mentioning you in a comment—represent a user reaching out to your brand, not just passively reacting to your content. Take a look at the average interactions per post by platform.

  • 💡 According to our poll, 33% of respondents name LinkedIn as the platform bringing in most of their interactions.

Carnage Connections #52

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Facebook Group Friday

The Conversation

🔥 Trending in The Daily Carnage Facebook group this week.

“AI isn’t taking our jobs.”

Experts respond…

  • “I was literally let go from a job because I was replaced by AI.”
  • “AI was never a threat, just an opportunity to grow in your industry and set yourself apart from those who don’t know how to utilize it!”
  • “And yet Canva laid off its entire technical writing team yesterday because its intending to use AI going ahead.”
  • “If you work on a team where there are 12 technical writers, or you are one of the same roles as 11 other people, yes, you’re likely in trouble.”
  • “I think the bigger threat to workers is other humans who see AI or synthetic intelligence as the answer to putting more money in their pocket instead of valuing unique and quality human work.”
  • “Honestly, it can have mine.”
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Ads From the Past

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Contadina, 1965

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Did Ya Know?

Answer: Google.

In 2016, Google’s April Fools stunt for Gmail inserted errant Minion GIFs into all manner of personal and professional emails—and then muted all replies—leading to absolute chaos. Hear more about it in this week’s episode of The Daily Carnage Show.

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