Red Lobster Lambasted For Response To Beyonce's 'Formation' Shout-Out

Red Lobster yesterday said that sales spiked 33% over the previous Super Bowl Sunday in the wake of Beyonce’s “sexually charged” mention of the restaurant in a single and YouTube video released Saturday prior to her appearance on the half-time show the next day. But that good news was tempered by the hammering the chain took in social media for its delayed, and then half-baked, response to the more than 300,000 tweets it generated.

“Red Lobster didn't realize Beyonce called out the chain in her song until the chain started trending on Twitter,” CEO Kim Lopdrup tellsUSA Today’s Hadley Malcolm in revealing the sales boost that continued through Monday.

“We had nothing to do with the song and had no advance knowledge of it being released,” he says. "We learned about it by seeing that we were trending as number one on Twitter, which is probably the first time that has ever happened.”

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Here’s the “dirty” version of the “Formation” video on YouTube

“In case you're not exactly sure what this Red Lobster lyric is about, the songstress is saying that she rewards some quality sex with a trip to the restaurant and treating her partner to a meal,” writes Jon Niles in a Music Times piece.

To be sure, there’s much more wallop to the song than that perhaps-not-safe-for-work reference, as Amy Vernon observes for Inc. in a piece that was picked up by the Chicago Tribune. “It's a powerful #BlackLivesMatter moment.” 

But it’s that line, in particular, that lit up Twitter.

“Fans and followers— many from the black community — flew to Twitter, waiting for some reaction from Red Lobster,” Vernon writes.

“And waited.

“And waited.

“Hours later, a relatively tame response: “"Cheddar Bey Biscuits" has a nice ring to it, don't you think? #Formation @Beyonce

The song is broken down by Tahir Register in a post on TheBlackMedia.org blog.

“While most of the lyrics in ‘Formation’ are bold, ‘cocky-like’ statements used to represent Beyonce’s present strength of past insecurities, and repetitious rumors, we can agree that the overall theme, message in text, and in visuals are fitting for today’s social issues,” he writes.

But Red Lobster clearly was not ready for the exposure. Jeff Beer speaks to executives at three agencies that have had success in similar situations and offers “3 Lessons On How Not To Pull A Red Lobster If Beyonce Boosts Your Brand” on Fast Company’s “Co.Create” blog.

Victor Pineiro, SVP of social media for Big Spaceship — with clients such as YouTube, BMW, and Samsung — says “especially during major cultural events when all eyes are on social you do need a few unicorns on call.”

A unicorn, in this case, is “someone who is both very creative and completely dialed into Internet and pop culture,” and they are “surprisingly hard to find,” Pineiro says. “They need to speak the language of social media and Internet culture, or it falls flat. Red Lobster’s tweet is an extreme example of it, but you see this happen every day on social.”

CNBC’s Sarah Whitten points out that Red Lobster “traditionally experiences a spike in sales during this time of year due to their annual ‘Lobster Fest’ promotion, but Lopdrup credits this weekend's boost to the R&B star. The company refers to it as the ‘Beyoncé Bounce’ and some of its employees have already begun renaming popular menu items after the pop star.”

“We are absolutely delighted with what we saw over the weekend, particularly the consumer sentiment that we saw expressed,” Lopdrup tells Whitten. “It's clear that Beyoncé has helped create some Red Lobster fans, and we are very grateful to her for that.”

But “to be clear, it would be hard to track just how much of a sales bump Red Lobster is getting from Beyoncé. After all, it's not like waiters are asking patrons ‘did Bey send you?’” Jessica Wohl writes for Ad Age. And the chain, now owned by private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, “won't necessarily publicly report the actual sales lift,” she points out.

Meanwhile, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani took to Fox News to criticize “what he described as an ‘attack’ on police officers during [Beyoncé’s] Super Bowl halftime show performance, Niraj Chokshi reports in the Washington Post. “Other conservatives took issue with it as well,” he writes, just above a screen-grab of a disapproving tweet from Rep. Peter King (R.-NY).

“The performance carried a strong theme of black empowerment, featuring Beyoncé flanked by women dressed in what was clearly a nod to the fashion of the Black Panther Party of the 1960s and 1970s,” Chokshi observes.

But Andrew Rosenthal takes issue with those taking issue with Beyoncé’s homage to the Panthers in the New York Times’ “Taking Note” blog.

“But the Panthers were no more racist than, say, the governor of Alabama or the state troopers in Selma in 1965, or the Democratic National Committee in 1968, or the Chicago police force in that year, or today. At least the Panthers could claim some provocation for their rage,” he writes.

3 comments about "Red Lobster Lambasted For Response To Beyonce's 'Formation' Shout-Out".
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  1. Donald Frazier from OneVideo Technology, February 10, 2016 at 11:53 a.m.

    And here's the biggest mystery:  does it work in reverse?

    That is, can you bring it on down to the Red Lobster first, and then perform the deserving part? Do you have to bring your own, or will they have Bey (or the local equivalent) waiting for you? Something to contemplate while the melted butter oozes out of their ads and onto your own cheesy biscuit.

  2. Elle Mac from Not Applicable, February 10, 2016 at 5:37 p.m.

    And THIS is why in today's age you must have diversity in your ranks.  The "Bey Biscuit" response is cornier than the "Illuminati".  The execs at Red Lobster and their agency are likely thinking we are diverse "Becky is a millenial and she even likes Hip-Hop".  That's not enough.  Do you have people from different cultures that can help read the tea leaves of today's society?  I'm guessing the answer for them is "No".  Which is why when Red Lobster was given the set-up of the century to show that they are in tune with, understand and appreciate ALL of their customers they came back with a picture of a biscuit.  #WhatTha #Fail

  3. Judy Mowatt from Freelance Media Buyer, February 11, 2016 at 1:46 a.m.

    Corporate America is so bureaucratic. Red Lobster probably took so long because their agency probably had a long line of approvals needed for that single tweet.

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