The situation on Wall Street right now in regards to GameStop stock is a delicate and somewhat confusing one. Everyday traders have managed to use the stock market to make millions of dollars while veterans have suffered some severe losses. While eyes are glued to what's happening there, Popeyes Chicken decided to poke fun at the whole admittedly bizarre situation with a new promotion. On its own, the promotion is nothing out of the ordinary, customers can get free chicken tenders with any mobile order of $5 or more, but the presentation of this promotion moves it into the realm of memes.
For those that haven't heard about the GameStop stock situation, Redditors on r/WallStreetBets have caused havoc in the status quo of the stock market, allowing for average people to score big. Debates rage on about whether what they are doing is ethical or not, and even whether it's against the rules in the first place, but that discussion isn't important to people wanting to get some free food from Popeyes.
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In the advertisement below, Popeyes uses the situation with GameStop's stock to reveal its new promotion, promising "free chicken tendies" for everyone, not just the "elite few." Though this approach may have seemed like it came out of left field, the reference is hammered home by the use of high tech looking graphs that represent the stock market in the background. Finally, in order to redeem this promotion, customers need to enter the promo codes $GME, $AMC, $NOK, or $BB, all abbreviations for stocks affected by r/WallStreetBets.
It seems as though Popeyes expected at least some kind of backlash for this stunt, as comments are disabled on the video above. Aside from being hilarious, this could be taken as a statement of support for those on Reddit fighting in the stock market, which has become a sort of political issue in and of itself. That said, there is some precedent for this type of ad, as members of r/WallStreetBets and other similar subreddits often use the term "tendies" to refer to financial gain or a successful bet.
It remains to be seen what becomes of r/WallStreetBets and its raid on Wall Street, but the situation grows larger every day. With big name brands like Popeyes now getting involved and the Biden administration keeping a close watch on GameStop stock trading, it may only be a matter of time before the controversy becomes more well-known to the average American. Regardless of what one thinks about the situation at Wall Street, those wanting to take advantage of free chicken tendies can do so until the end of the workday February 2nd.
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