RIP Duo: How an Un-Alived Owl Redefined Brand Engagement and What Seafood Marketing Can Learn From It
“Duolingo bringing the world together was not on my 2025 bingo card.” Ours either, but it’s turning out to be a wild year for…everything.
Duolingo , the popular language learning app, has reported the death of their beloved mascot. Duo - the bright green, energetic little owl who had no trouble dropping low-key threats prompting you to do your lessons - was (maybe?) murdered on February 11th, 2025. From there, chaos has ensued.
Duolingo has been building its eccentric brand personality for over a decade. What started as passive-aggressive app notifications and guilt-tripping expressions from Duo, their dearly departed mascot, grew into lesson reminders that feel more like harassment - a key part of the experience. Their TikTok became a space for deepening the Duo lore, evolving into a home for Duo's romantic feelings (obsession) for pop star Dua Lipa, his foray into a glute-enhancing ‘self-improvement’ (a BBL, call it what it is) from viral TikToker Dr. Miami, and parenthood with a brood of spongy owlets in collaboration with Scrub Daddy, Inc.. Yes, the dish sponge brand. What does this have to do with language learning? Nothing. That’s the point, and the attraction. Nowhere in their TikTok presence do they really ‘sell’ their product. It’s all about amplifying Duo’s personality as ‘our twerking, fuzzy, lime green, fictional, crusty owl friend,’ said the CEO of Duolingo in an official statement.
Duo's death was absurd: hit by a Cybertruck, tying into the Kendrick/Drake Super Bowl beef, and wrapped up in the brand's ongoing lore surrounding the endearing, if verging on hostile, mascot. Oh, and then they killed off all their other mascots too. We don’t know what that’s about yet, but you know we, and the rest of TikTok, are frothing for answers.
To make matters more unhinged, Duolingo has followed up with a product campaign—X-eyed Duo stuffies in their own coffins—and they make no bones that this part is exactly what it is. Making all-out mockery of consumerism with captions that hit like knives:
“We’re monetizing grief, because we are a corporation!”
“Why process your emotions when you can process a payment?!!”
“Rest assured, proceeds will go into funding more of our stupid marketing ideas!”
Chef’s freaking kiss.
You know the Duolingo team was HOWLING when they wrote this. RIP the marketing professors who’ll be discussing this in class this week.
Why it Matters
It’s all wild, and it's working. This has created an internet culture moment marketers dream of.
And this is no longer a solo case of Duolingo gone wild. TikTok is ablaze with comments, response reels, plot twists, condolences, and even a few icy takes from other brands - the ones who get it and are running the same social media marketing marathon.
A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. bear was spotted tearfully pouring out a root beer in respect. Penguin Publishing Group has set up a new security detail for their mascot. E.L.F. BEAUTY is pulling fingerprints with its setting powder. Calm app has offered its support because ‘ it’s hard to process big emotions’ (very on brand). Even @Quaker Oats chimed in. QUAKER OATS. Our host LinkedIn itself showed up, offering their sympathies while cheekily suggesting the mascot job was now available. Did you know LinkedIn had a TikTok account? We didn’t. And yet, there they are.
Marketing themselves within a marketing campaign? Nice work. This is the brand multiverse now. The fourth wall has shattered. Mascots are friends. Corporations are chaotic internet characters. Marketing is storytelling. This is digital theater.
These are among the hundreds of brands that have shown up, and been aware and agile enough to hop on the moment. We’ve said before that trends are not a strategy, and that’s true. Taking advantage of these kinds of trends in a way that deepens their greater marketing strategy? That’s about audience relationship building. Moreover, they are so in tune with their voice and know their brand so well that they are responding in their brand's whole personality (hail the copywriters).
Why it Works
This Duo phenomenon is not actually such a phenomenon when you break it down. It’s a product with the hallmarks of any other:
Features: Learn a new language, math skills, or music through challenges and games
Benefits: Easy, accessible, learn at your own pace
Personality: Aggressive owl bestie who guilts you into fluency
They offer what other learning apps offer—the difference is in their personality and how they adapt it to target audiences where they are. Fully unhinged for Gen Z? TikTok. Still chaotic but softened for the millennials who lay awake at night with acid reflux? Instagram. Same brand, varied approaches. Not only are they aware that different audiences need slightly different tones, they are ready to jump on this roller coaster of their own creation because they are agile enough for the ride—especially on TikTok, where you’d better have a thick skin. Its a cruel (digital) world out there, today's audiences can sniff out a fake and are absolutely not holding back on brands that don't align with their values. It's wild to watch some brands slink into the shadows after being called out, while others that make initially arrive on the scene awkwardly, clap back and show they are here to play.
It’s dark. It’s weird. And it’s working because even though it’s brands doing the first-person talking, what’s behind that is real. Real people, real humor, real personality. It’s not leading with a polished veneer. On TikTok? Not the vibe. This is a space for humans pulling the strings behind the brand to engage, have conversations, and be funny.
They’re showing up where the younger viewers are, with a youth-infused vernacular (they are a language app first, after all), and, most importantly, with a personality that feels more like a friend—one who is as unserious and unhinged as they are. Gen Z is deeply themselves—silly, awkward, weird AF and not sorry about it. They resonate with brands that reflect that. They aren’t buying from brands that feel sterile, fake, or judgmental. They aren't fools, they know it's all a marketing game, but they want to engage with brands that are up for the play, that get it and feel like friends.
Duo’s death hasn’t just worked because it’s unsettlingly funny. It worked because it’s part of a bigger story. Duo was a character we loved (to hate). We were already invested in his weird little life. His death hit because we cared.
Why Seafood Should Pay Attention
You might be thinking this makes no sense, it's dumb, it doesn't SELL THINGS…but it does. People are taking longer to buy than ever, and they aren’t interested in making a purchase just because you tell them that they should and ‘this is why’. That’s the marketing equivalent of a parent saying ‘because I said so.’ They’re not listening to you, they’re listening to their friends, to influencers, and are moved by humor. They may not be buying dish sponges today but when they do, they might reach for SpongeDaddy because they will remember this unhinged ride, the Duo owl-sponge babies, and how it made them laugh to be a part of it. Emotions make decisions, not logic.
It works because it’s endearment first, sales second. You win hearts before you win wallets.
Seafood industry, we really hope you’ve been taking notes. This is the kind of audience building that is possible from a brand that’s absolutely nailing it - and it’s possible for us too. Seafood has the potential to bridge this gap and weave itself into the fabric of generational engagement, personality, and cultural relevance.
Our marketing strategies have often presented as buttoned-up and information-heavy and there’s a place for that, but not as your first touchpoint. We invite you to go beyond the usual script and start thinking like storytellers, like fandom-builders. Meet people where they are. Speak their language. Captain Highliner, where are you? Sea Daddy, come console your fellow brand sailors!
This is a golden moment for seafood to show up and drop even just a comment. A silly little note. There is so much opportunity for seafood brands to spread deeper into this space so much deeper. We are literally in an industry built on lore. Fish stories, maritime legends, salty characters—this is our native language. We are steeped in it. Why aren’t we using it?
Maybe that means we lean into the awkward - just fully acknowledge that we’re out of touch - and embrace the role of the intentionally unhip grandpappy fish mascot.
There’s always a way to get in on the joke. Just make sure you have the right people making it weird, the right way, and in the right language.
RIP Duo. Long live the lesson.
