FortniteThe annual Halloween event is fast approaching, and this time, Epic Games is teaming up with well-known gamer and Twitch streamer Doja Cat to make it happen. To promote the festivities, the Fortnite Account X made everyone feel like it was temporarily written by Doja Cat herself. Except Doja Cat is there Fortnite“, calling the messages cringe and embarrassing. Eh?
Early Wednesday, FortniteThe social media account posted a selfie of Doja Cat which claimed she had taken over the account. The posts that followed sounded like her. There’s a caps lock message on the Chain of Hades weapon, which many people believe Epic Games got rid of specifically because the rapper complained about it during a live stream. The diction seems more human than the branding at times, especially in short messages that don’t directly promote anything. Even the self-deprecating humor seemed like a Doja Cat post.
“One of my Fortnite Skins is bald and that’s something people are going to have to get used to,” one post read.
But then you get to the post where Fortnite says: “Mother of pink toys.” As in adult toy. Oddly sexual for an account belonging to a children’s game, right? At first glance, this might lend credence to the idea that the messages actually came from Doja Cat, a known provocateur, and not someone concerned about brand safety. Except Doja Cat seems as surprised as everyone else about the posts.
“shit, cringe, damn[.] now I’m embarrassed,” Doja Cat wrote, holding up a wilted rose. “I told them not to do it.[.] dude, it’s not even me,” she wrote in a response on the platform. “I said that yesterday, then I said ‘don’t post that’ :\”
This would suggest that the messages are not directly written by Doja Cat, but rather are based on items discussed with whoever controls the Fortnite Count X. Skeptical minds might look at this with a raised eyebrow. Surely this is just marketing and Doja Cat is playing along in a move that is sure to get people talking? Plausible. But consider two things. On X, someone accused Doja Cat of lying about the whole situation. She responded sarcastically: “Me when I wish someone would tweet something like that to a group of kids.” THE Fortnite The account also deleted the original post.
On the other hand, the Fortnite The account always has a post that is just a long string of pink emoji. But it doesn’t directly refer to anything sexual, and innocent children may not make an immediate connection as to its meaning. The leaks also say that part of the in-game promotion will introduce a weapon called the Thorn Ripper, which fits the rose theme.
However, that doesn’t really explain the message about the toys. There’s a lot to consider here, including the fact that Doja Cat herself is a known troll. She is used to going left when brand agreements want her to go right.
In one infamous case, the singer teamed up with Taco Bell to create a jingle for their Mexican pizza. Before sharing the song herself, she warned viewers in a now-deleted post that it was contractual and that she wasn’t particularly proud of what she came up with. But now the only remaining evidence of this is the jingle itself, where she claims she just missed fast food. such she decided to make a song out of the blue. Note, however, the stilted introduction.
Years later, Doja continued to work with Taco Bell, at one point even appearing in a Super Bowl commercial. As part of the rollout, she made a commercial that attempted to manufacture drama between her and Taco Bell in which, incidentally, Lebron James was also involved. It’s not as compelling as deleted jingles or Fortnite messages. But the tactics seem similar.
So… is this all real? If it’s a scam, it’s a bold scam. I don’t know if parents would appreciate knowing that a popular video game is promoting sex toys, even if only jokingly. Plausible deniability is there for emoji messages, but not for the deleted message with the word toy. I’m also not convinced that any brand would happily want to be associated with the word “cringe,” which is pretty much the worst thing Gen Z can refer to.
Either way, Doja Cat comes out on top. This will serve as proof of concept that she can sell your product in a way that seems organic even if she hates it – or it’s all staged.
