SIU PRSSA Southern Illinois University Public Relations Student Society of America
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It’s Corn! The newest viral TikTok that has taken the world by storm. Whether you’ve seen it on TikTok, Instagram, or even Twitter, the “Corn Kid” has made his imprint all over social media. Five-year-old Tariq went viral on social media after an interview, where Tariq confessed his deep love for corn, saying things like, “I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing” and “a big lump with knobs, it has the juice.” These are some of the many things Tariq noted that made corn so great.
Gaining over 22 million views on TikTok alone, the “Corn Kid’s” fame was just beginning. In August of 2022, Chipotle had posted a video collaborating with the “Corn Kid” that ended up making over 43 million views and seven million likes (more than the original). The video showed a Chipotle worker making a burrito bowl with the young boy saying “no” to every ingredient until it reached corn, where the camera would pan up to show Tariq’s face. This was a big win for Chipotle as this video topped every other promotional video they had put out on social media. Since Tariq’s collaboration with Chipotle, he has been seen in many other videos promoting different brands most notably with Mr. Beast and his first ever physical store of Mr. Beast Burger and a little less notably promoting Nebraska Huskers Football.
There are many variables that go into collaborating with a viral sensation like Tariq. This would be considered a great example of a collaboration gone right. A collaboration that did not go so well would be Kendall Jenner’s collaboration with Pepsi, in an advertisement to end police brutality. In this collaboration Kendall Jenner is in a photoshoot but it promptly ends when she leaves to join a protest where the police are persuaded when Kendall Jenner gives a police officer a Pepsi, which seemingly brings peace to both sides. This struck a lot of controversy with the public and even Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, Bernice, chimes in with a tweet saying, “If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.”
With Chipotle’s collaboration, there can be a huge rise in customers who want to go to Chipotle because of the video. Many people say it is the funniest video they have seen on TikTok and many others make videos with funny reactions to this collaboration. On the other hand, those who are tired of seeing Corn Kid everywhere on the internet may want nothing to do with Chipotle, especially after this video. There is a lot of reward in a collaboration like this but with the reward comes a risk. However, “Corn Kid” is still seeing a lot of success continuing to do collaborations as well as securing an interview with Ellen. With success like this, Tariq will be sharing a big spotlight for a while with his favorite thing, corn.
