hello 👋
perhaps you’ve heard.
perhaps you haven’t.
for the past week, tributes have been pouring in for Duolingo’s dearly departed owl.
yes—according to Duolingo, Duo is dead...
killed by a Cybertruck, apparently. (The latest bird to meet its fate at the hands of a certain billionaire.)
confused?
yeah, me too...
so what the hell is going on? 😵💫
if you’ve been minding your own business, dutifully working your way through your daily lessons, then this whole saga might have passed you by
for within the app, owly is still alive and kicking:
nothing to see here, just another ordinary day on Duolingo. 🤷
but beyond the app, in the wild west that is social media, it's a different story...
Duolingo's marketing team is well known for being somewhat unhinged...
just take one look at their TikTok account, and… well, you might wish you hadn’t
i jest.
it's all a bit of fun at the end of the day
not to mention some very clever marketing—designed to keep Duolingo, the brand, front and center 🦉
you know what i mean.
the weird April Fools’ Day commercials.🙈
the bizarre app icons that make you question whether your phone has glitched. 🤨
and now? the latest publicity stunt:
"let’s kill off the single most important part of our brand—brilliant idea!"
hmmm...
if, like me, you’re utterly perplexed and just want to get back to your lessons, rest assured: it doesn’t take a genius to see what’s going on here.
this was designed to grab attention.
and, well… it worked:
all anyone has been banging on about for the last week is the Duolingo owl.
even people who don’t use Duolingo have been talking about it.
mission accomplished.
but some are wondering...
is there perhaps more to this than a mere publicity stunt?
could this, in fact, actually signal a rebrand for the world’s largest language-learning platform? 🤔
it seems unfathomable
why on earth would they sacrifice the single most important part of their brand?
and yet, this is what the Duolingo English Test had to say:
curious, no?
a Lingo without the Duo...
that would be like Football without the Ball 🤷
it makes zero sense, especially when you consider Duolingo's expansion into other subjects beyond language learning
if anything, it's the -lingo bit they'd be getting rid of.
and given the Duolingo English Test has since removed the above post, it seems even more likely that...
this is just the latest PR stunt in an ever-growing portfolio of strangeness
designed purely and simply to get people talking,
using the app,
and, of course, purchasing Duolingo's merch...
yes--they've actually been selling plushies in a COFFIN 😬
i'm sure it won't be long before we learn of Duo's grand resurrection
and all will rejoice and live happily ever after
...until the next stunt, that is...
🤪 Weird Duolingo 🤪
Look's like Duo's not the only one meeting an untimely demise...
Thanks to Linda for this corker:
an invisible cow though? that’s a tough way to go. moo-urder most foul. 🐄💀
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