By B.L. Ochman
Betty the Tweeting Chicken Seeks Guinness record
UPDATE: Originally published in 2015. Alas, Betty’s not Tweeting anymore, but I’m bringing her back in honor of Thanksgiving.
Betty the Tweeting Chicken, @chickentreat seen here in her “training video” brings new meaning to the term “chicken scratch”. She’s vying for a Guinness Record if she can Tweet a 5-letter word before Oct. 30.
She’s not the first chicken to go viral. That honor went to the Subservient Chicken back in 2004.
So far, the closest Betty’s come to a 5-letter work is “Bum”, which prompted the warning “”Bum? Keep things clean, Betty.”
Betty has nearly 9,000 followers on Twitter, up from 700 before her video. And so far, according to Brand Tracker, she’s racked up more than 3,500 Tweets with the hashtag #ChickenTweet.There’s also a daily Periscope tour of her coop and an Instagram feed.
I love it when a brand has a sense of humor! The magic of Australia’s Chicken Treat Restaurant chain’s classic roasted bird is in its simplicity, branding and local marketing campaign’s light-hearted approach.
Not the first dirty bird
Of course, Betty’s not the first chicken to promote a brand. That honor belongs to Burger King’s deliciously weird 2004 Subservient Chicken, one of the internet’s first viral sensations. He was a man dressed in a giant chicken suit complete with a garter belt (??!) – who’d do anything you asked him, as long as it wasn’t x-rated.
Back in the days before social media, he racked up a million hits in the first 24 hours, eventually reaching more than one billion pageviews. Burger King brought him back, sort of, on the campaign’s 10th anniversary. But, alas, he didn’t fly.
Wishing you luck Ms. Betty!