A ad on X, which appears to be for a burger but doesn’t actually seem to be selling anything, is going viral, with posters wondering what the heck is going on.
“Can someone actually explain what’s going on with these?” asked Defector editor Barry Petchesky in one post. “There’s no product to buy, no link to click. Are the bots just going rogue and doing ad spends?”
To be fair, the post seems to show a pretty mouth-watering-looking burger, though if you look closely the meat does look slightly dry.
The photo and the text were posted on Feb. 4 by a nondescript, but Twitter Blue-verified, account called Camila Cabrera.
“Indulge in juicy, flavorful burgers that will make your taste buds dance with delight, a perfect meal for any occasion,” the post reads.
It doesn’t currently have an ad label on it, but it’s making its way to people’s feeds, and a series of quote tweets in the last week show people speculating about why the post exists, including suggestions that it may have been made by AI to try to farm engagement.
“Is this just an ad for the very idea of eating a hamburger?” asked @hnana349 “It’s kinda working but still, it’s weird.”
“This is the ‘Got Milk’ of Twitter Ads except for burgers,” posted @Casey_Jacked. “And it is WORKING.”
One viral thread speculating about the reasons for the ad had people sharing other theories about what the ad was about.
“my gut is that it’s farming rubes to target with other actions,” suggested @andyvolosky. “Take folks who engaged or clicked on that ad, spam them with whatever other scam that you’re actually going for,” while another user suggested that the ad was part of a laundering scheme where money is “funneled” through X.
Other users shared other examples of weird, nonsensical ads they’d seen on X recently, including one for green tea that simply shows a cup of green tea, and another one which simply advertises ‘news.’
Over on the r/NonPoliticalTwitter subreddit, where you can’t talk about politics on X but you can talk about anything else, a thread said the burger post was one of the silver linings of Elon Musk owning X: the fact that there are so many nonsensical ads.
“Twitter ads just keep getting weirder and shadier,” posted u/captainmagictrousers on the subreddit. “The other day, I got an ad from a ‘toy company’ selling a pendant that was actually disguised brass knuckles. The ad even said that it was for sneaking weapons through security.”
But not everybody hated the post.
“I love the idea of conceptual ads,” posted u/Spodson. “It’s not a specific product, but the idea of a type of product. Hate walking? You should try a car! We don’t know which one. Your needs may vary. But you might want to look into that!”
