We need to talk about the elephant in the room, or rather, the brand account in the comments section.
Remember 2016? Wendy’s broke the internet with their sassy Twitter account, roasting competitors and dropping into rap battles. “We’ve had a pretty crazy year on Twitter,” they declared. “From roasting our competitors to getting into rap battles, to the most Retweets of All Time. We never could’ve predicted all of this a year ago.” It was fresh, it was bold, and it genuinely worked. They changed the game overnight.
Fast forward to today, and that playbook has become a problem.
What was innovative in 2016 has become the template every brand copied, watered down, and beat into the ground. Now, nearly a decade later, consumers (especially Gen Z) aren’t just tired of it. They find it cringe.
You’ve seen it. A video goes viral, maybe it’s heartfelt, maybe it’s hilarious, and then they show up. Brand accounts flooding the comments with forced jokes, trying desperately to be the next Wendy’s. And increasingly, people aren’t just scrolling past anymore. They’re calling it out.
TikTok user @marwissuh perfectly captured the frustration: “they’re all in the funny video comments tryna be relevant but when someone posts about a bad experience with said company they are nowhere to be found.” And that’s the issue, isn’t it? Brands show up for the viral moments, the easy wins, but disappear when actual accountability is needed.
@unemployedfed expressed similar exhaustion: “I remember a time when we would be spamming ‘silence, brand’ whenever they commented. Now they get praise in the comments and it makes me upset.” The pendulum is swinging back. What once felt novel now feels invasive.
Here’s what happened: Wendy’s succeeded because they were first and because it genuinely fit their brand personality. But when every mattress company, software platform, and grocery chain started trying to be snarky, it stopped being authentic and started being algorithmic. Consumers today have finely-tuned BS detectors. They can smell a social media manager desperately following a 2016 playbook from a mile away.
So what’s a brand to do in 2026?
First, understand that what worked yesterday won’t work tomorrow. The Wendy’s model isn’t wrong; it’s just expired for most brands. Trying to replicate someone else’s viral moment is the opposite of authenticity.
Second, show up consistently, not selectively. If you’re going to be present in the fun moments, you need to be equally present when customers have legitimate complaints. Cherry-picking when to engage destroys trust faster than silence ever could.
Third, know your brand voice deeply. Authenticity doesn’t mean being snarky or speaking in lowercase with excessive emojis. It means having a clear understanding of your values, your audience, and your boundaries.
The brands winning on social media now aren’t the ones with the snarkiest comebacks. They’re the ones being genuinely useful, consistently supportive, and refreshingly honest. They understand that trust is built through patterns, not performances.
Your audience doesn’t want you to be their chaotic Twitter friend. They want you to be trustworthy, respectful, and real. And in 2026, that means knowing when to speak up and, perhaps more importantly, when to sit one out.
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