Viral Advertising on Social Media Twitter through Hype and Fandom (Case: Mcnuggets X BTS Collaboration)

Abstract

The McDonald’s x BTS collaboration through BTS meal menu on June 9th 2021 has had a massive impact on conversations in cyberspace. #BTSMeal managed to occupy the first position in Indonesia's trending twitter topic on the day of its launch. The army's love for the K-pop group BTS brought #BTSMeal to successfully become a topic of conversation throughout the world through social media channels. This creates a moment of hype resulting in consequences. McDonald’s got the opportunity to mass advertise for free through its virality that day However, it is also interesting to see how viral advertising occurs through the BTS meal program. This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach. Data collection was carried out using digital ethnography using document studies and Twitter social media observations. Specifically, this study only observed the #BTSMeal search results on twitter within the period of June 9, 2021, using Indonesian-language tweets. Based on the results of the study, fandom towards BTS gives strength to the creation of a larger movement, which gives benefits to McDonald’s in marketing its nugget menu, as well as McDonald’s by brand. Thus, a viral advertising strategy that utilizes hype and fandom against a group has potential, but also consequences that can actually be detrimental.