'If you have a Menty B, river walk,' recommended the employees who were assigned the task of reading the Gen-Z script.
These days, TikTok is buzzing with a strange trend. Many businesses and brands are making their Gen Z staff write marketing scripts, and asking senior workers to impassively repeat them. In the latest take on the trend, Northumberland Zoo's (@northumberlandzoo) marketing script went viral after Gen Z took over the responsibility of writing it. As two elderly workers narrated the "Gen-Z style" script with poker faces, paired with perfect comic timing, the duo made people on social media laugh out loud.
“Northumberland Zoo hits different,” speaks an elderly male employee, standing at the zoo entrance with a female colleague, both dressed in zoo uniforms. “It’s poppin',” he says, standing in front of a fence. The clip transitions to a bat's cage, pointing at which the employee says, “Bat.” The woman interrupts him and says, “No I think, it’s a brat.” “Brat,” the man again introduces the animal. In Gen Z slang, “brat” is often used to describe someone bold, blunt, authentic, and confident.
However, it seems pretty obvious that the two employees have no idea what they’re saying and are just carrying out the script. This adds a humorous angle to the marketing clip. The clip then shows the two employees standing with a brown donkey. “Slay,” the woman speaks. “Slay,” in Gen Z vocabulary, means “to do something well or to do a good job.”
Next comes an owl in the picture which the woman describes as the “Main character energy.” The owl flutters away. The phrase "Main character energy" refers to confidence, charisma, and self-assuredness, often associated with the main character in a story or movie. On social media, it is used to describe someone who wants to be the center of attention.
“Queen,” the man declares snapping his fingers as a cute milky brown pony stands beside him. A smattering of poop was referred to as “ick!” Next, the zookeepers introduced lemurs again with the word “Slay.” The clip transitions to a tree-clad walkway where both the employees are walking. “If you have a Menty B,” says the man, adding, “Riverwalk.” Menty B is a nickname for “mental breakdown.”
They go on to introduce a goat with the slang “G.O.A.T.” which implies “Greatest Of All Time,” and another place that they say, “gives an Amazon rainforest.” “Lit,” the woman utters. According to Claire Madden, “Lit” in Gen Z lingo describes things that are “really awesome, really cool.” Next up in the video, they introduce a cute raccoon, who seems to be nibbling on food, looking at which the team says, “See how he is eating. Very cutesy. Very mindful. Very demure.” “Very mindful, very demure” is a phrase that went viral after a TikTok user described her make-up for work, per The Times. The hilarious commercial concludes with the woman saying, “We’re armed for you to visit.”
In just two days, the video racked up over 2.8 million views and over 3,000 comments. “This has got to be one of the best ones out there,” said @bayleighthebordercollie. @monkeyandmoo1804 commented about the “demure” lemur writing, “The lemur was a paid actor for sure!” The post even received a roll-into-laughter comment from Google.
@northumberlandzoo Our Zoo Directors didn’t understand the assignment. #genz #genzmarketing #viral #fyp #funny #marketing ♬ Jazz Bossa Nova - TOKYO Lonesome Blue
You can follow Northumberland Zoo on TikTok to catch more sneak peeks into how they take care of animals.
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