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The Bridge
Organic (unpaid) viral moments aren’t easy to come by, especially for established brands like DoorDash. However, last week saw a ton of free attention being directed at the food service app. Why, you ask? A payment processing glitch gave users a fast-food five finger discount that spread like wildfire on social media. With the rise of tech and digital connectedness, one small mistake could now be quite costly.
Ding Dong DoorDash Ditch
If you’re like us, you probably missed the five-finger discount DoorDash delivered to its users last Thursday. The popular food-service suffered a glitch in its system (or one in the matrix?), allowing Z-llennial foodies to haul thousands of dollars worth of premium alcohol and Popeyes Chicken Sandwiches, delivered right to their doorstep for Free.99.
Going Viral
Not gonna lie, we have major FOMO (aka “Fear of Missing Out”) from this. DoorDash’s “Viral Moment”, the massive amount of attention gained on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok, is definitely one for the books. What most likely started as a few people posting about the glitch amplified into Z-llennial social media users getting their grub on. Who said there’s no such thing as a free lunch!
Going Viral, a term coined after the way viruses replicate and spread within the body, is a marketing tool that blasts-off careers and companies into stardom. Remember the game “Telephone”, where one person relays a message to the next, and so-on. It works like that, just with reposts and memes.
Make no mistake, companies WANT to go viral, as it brings attention and revenue. Unfortunately, in DoorDash’s case they, along with their merchants, took some significant losses.
Wait a minute… we’re getting some breaking news here…
Not So Fast (Food)
Gen-Z free food aficionados may not want to celebrate just yet! DoorDash reps recently
Gave a statement addressing the error, saying “We’re actively canceling fraudulent orders, and are in touch with merchants impacted to ensure they are compensated…”.
It’s giving FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) !
We’d like to retract our “free lunch” comment from earlier.
Last thing, because we’re getting hungry over here, but can you believe that the majority of users DIDN’T tip their delivery drivers during this feeding frenzy? Even at no cost to them!
Just some food for thought.
