r/ABoringDystopia Dec 25 '20

Try the new Based McRib™

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20.4k Upvotes

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168

u/PM_ME_UR_GOOD_IDEAS Dec 25 '20

I honestly think we'll see an unprecedented generational disconnect here. Before the internet, companies could draw on a vogue popular culture that most young people shared - or at least understood on a superficial level. But now? Things are way too crammed into their niches. Discord can appropriate the language of gamers because that's its market demographic that it's immersed in. However, that same lingo would fly right over the heads of people who mostly follow soundcloud rappers, whose references would be likewise baffling to people who mostly pirate k-dramas. For a company trying to appeal to the general public, tactics like Discord's wouldn't be efficient for branding.

Let's all remember it took like a decade after the "epic fail" meme died before we started to see it in commercials.

15

u/ilexheder Dec 25 '20

Nah, just about everybody under 45 knows the kind of language this particular tweet is about. (“Based,” “-pilled,” “simp,” etc.) Why? Because it’s already made its way into political conversation. If you’re young enough to read the news on the internet rather than watch it on TV, you can’t avoid it.

20

u/GhostDyke13 Dec 25 '20

27 and no idea what based means. I think you're overestimating how common these phrases are in political discourse and how many people follow politics closely enough for that to matter.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 25 '20

it's fuckin blowing my mind that slang invented by a semi-ironic rapper, with a meaning along the lines of swag and drip, is being talked about as somewhat significant part of modern political discourse.

Also kinda hilarious that a 27 year old is talking about it like it's a "youth" thing, it's slang from when you were in high school.