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Nihilist Arby's
Part of a series on Gimmick Accounts. [View Related Entries]
About
Nilihst Arby's is a novelty Twitter account featuring bleak, pessimistic tweets about the meaninglessness of life and inevitability of death with unenthusiastic recommendations for the fast food restaurant chain Arby's.
Origin
On January 14th, 2015, the @nihilist_arbys[1] Twitter feed was launched by writer Brendan Kelly,[11] which posted several bleak tweets recommending Arby's as a fast food destination (shown below). In the first three months, the feed gained over 50,000 followers.
Spread
On January 29th, Twitter user @warlick[2] posted a mock Arby's promotional ad using copy from a Nihilist Arby's tweet (shown below).
On the following day, the pop culture blog AV Club[6] published an article titled "Gaze into the Beef ’n Cheddar abyss with the Nihilist Arby’s Twitter account." On February 3rd, Redditor coffee_guy submitted the Twitter account to the /r/nightvale[3] subreddit. On February 8th, the food blog What's Nick Eating[8] reported that the account had been suspended. On February 10th, @nihilist_arbys resumed tweeting (shown below).[9]
On February 13th, Ad Week[4] reported that @nihilist_arbys had a follower "engagement rate" of 113 percent, compared to 4.3 percent for the official Arby's feed. On February 19th, the Nihilist Arby's Facebook[7] page was launched. On March 30th, Redditor tazman886 submitted a link to the Twitter account to the /r/nihilism[10] subreddit. On April 25th, Jezebel[5] published an article about the Twitter feed.
Various Examples
Search Interest
Not available.
External References
[1] Twitter – @nihilist_arbys
[3] Reddit – I present to you Nihilist Arby's twitter. All of these sound like promos straight from Night Vale
[4] Ad Week – The Nihilist Arby’s Twitter Account Is Dominating the Actual Arby’s Account
[5] Jezebel – Nihilist Arbys Twitter is One of the Internet's Most Beautiful Things
[6] AVClub – Gaze into the Beef n Cheddar abyss with the Nihilist Arbys Twitter account
[7] Facebook – Nihilist Arbys
[8] Whats Nick Eating – WHY NIHILIST ARBYS TWITTER ACCOUNT IS SUSPENDED
[9] Twitter – @nihilist_arbys
[10] Reddit – Anyone follow @nihilist_arbys
[11] Ad Week – Meet the Twisted Brilliant Copywriter Behind Twitters Nihilist Arbys
Top Comments
libertydude
Apr 27, 2015 at 08:29PM EDT
ExcessiveKnife
Apr 27, 2015 at 08:50PM EDT in reply to