MrBeast Feastables Display Controversy

Overview

MrBeast Feastables Display Controversy refers to backlash directed at YouTuber MrBeast for asking fans shopping at Walmart to organize and arrange the product displays for his line of Feastables chocolate bars as a personal favor in early March 2023. MrBeast's request on Twitter led to a series of responses and memes from fans and critics in the following days, who joked about the level of influence and power that MrBeast holds over his fandom.

Background

Prominent YouTuber and internet personality MrBeast started the Feastables snack bar brand in early 2022, describing a goal to provide "delicious snacks with ingredients you can trust." Feastables bars are notably promoted via viral marketing and an online store, but they are also sold at grocery stores.^[1]

On March 3rd, 2023, MrBeast took to his official Twitter account and asked his followers to arrange the displays of Feastables bars in Walmart locations as a favor to him. The tweet received almost 113,000 likes in three days, as well as over 4,200 quote retweets (seen below).^[2]

Online Reactions

Almost immediately following the tweet on March 3rd, 2023, some users (seeking to support MrBeast and his business ventures) posted pictures of rearranged Walmart Feastables displays. For example, Twitter user @Real_Neslon1 tweeted their support of MrBeast on March 4th, earning almost 1,600 likes in two days (seen below).^[3]

Others did the opposite, purposefully trashing displays of Feastables bars at Walmart and posting the results. For example, on March 5th, 2023, Twitter user @websiteidi0t earned almost 41,000 likes in 24 hours for showing the results of their sabotage of MrBeast's chocolate bars in a tweet (seen below).^[4]

Others joked about taking MrBeast's request way too seriously, posting pictures of various restrained and injured people and saying they had punished them on behalf of MrBeast for troubling his chocolate bar displays. For example, on March 5th, Twitter user @haramcart received almost 110,000 likes in one day for their tweet (seen below, left).^[5] That same day, user @boygrrI also posted in this way, earning just over 85,000 likes in a similar timeframe (seen below, right).^[6]

MrBeast saw increasing attention online in late 2022 and early 2023. After a series of videos that showed him curing blindness and passing out money to strangers, some found him to be exploitative or even compared him to the antichrist for tempting people, though others also supported him and his content.

In the wake of the March 2023 Feastables tweet, users participated in discourse about what MrBeast's business strategy and the public's response to it said about society. For example, some posters replying to the initial MrBeast tweet criticized the YouTuber (seen below, top) while others like @ostonox posted about people purportedly working without pay for MrBeast, earning just over 11,000 likes on March 6th (see below, bottom).^[7]

Various Examples

External References