Introducing a morbid and informative segment I'm excited to call...

Today's cadaver: The Duolingo Death Stunt

You know you're out of marketing ideas when you resort to killing off your mascot for attention.

This week, we're slicing open Duolingo's recent "kill the owl" campaign to extract whatever wisdom we can from the digital equivalent of faking your own death to see who shows up at your funeral.

In case you've been blessed with better things to pay attention to, in early February Duolingo "killed" its owl mascot Duo. They then had users earn 50 billion experience points to resurrect him, to which they revealed it was all—surprise!—a publicity stunt orchestrated by the owl himself.

The owl's goal of this entire charade? To get pop star Dua Lipa to notice him. I wish I was making this up.

The Organ Harvest

• Drove 50+ billion in-app experience points (meaning actual usage)
• Generated two weeks of press coverage
• Got Dua Lipa to acknowledge the owl's existence (mission accomplished, I guess?)

Cause of Death: Chronic Unoriginality

This is textbook Brand Desperation Syndrome, presenting with the following symptoms:

1. Recycled tactics: Mr. Peanut already pulled the death-resurrection stunt in 2020 (complete with a cringeworthy Super Bowl commercial). The playbook wasn't innovative then, and it's downright stale now. Fun fact: This campaign was created by VaynerMedia, as in Gary Vee's company. Please remember this the next time you're afraid of looking stupid.
2. False urgency: Holding your mascot hostage and telling users to complete lessons to "bring him back" is pity marketing disguised as engagement.
3. No payoff: After two weeks of buildup, the big reveal was essentially "I faked my death for attention." That's not a twist—it's what everyone assumed from the beginning.
4. Completely misreading your audience: Gen Z on TikTok (a critical demographic for language apps) is overwhelmingly calling the campaign "cringe"—the digital kiss of death.

The Real Problem Duolingo Was Trying to Solve

According to reporting, Duolingo's daily active users had plateaued. Instead of addressing why people weren't finding ongoing value in the app (perhaps by improving the actual product, better gamification, or maybe even just an effing survey), they opted for a cheap attention grab.

What Would Have Actually Worked:

If Duolingo genuinely wanted to re-engage users, they had better options:

• Launch a legitimately new feature that addresses user complaints
• Create a community challenge with a real-world impact (imagine those 50 billion XP points contributing to something that actually accomplished something, especially with the bullshit happening day after day right now)
• Partner with users to showcase genuine success stories from the platform

The Autopsy Conclusion:

When you resort to fake deaths, fake feuds, and manufactured drama to drive engagement, you're admitting you have nothing substantive to offer.

Duolingo essentially told the world. "Our product isn't compelling enough for you to use on its own merits, so we're going to emotionally manipulate you into coming back."

In two weeks, Duolingo will still be the same app, only now with the lingering scent of desperation and a mascot who cried wolf.

Next week, I'll autopsy a brand that's been standing for something real for decades — and seeing actual market growth right now because they actually put their money where their mouth is.

With the internet and direct contact with businesses, the old adage "all publicity is good publicity" just doesn't really hit anymore. If you need to fake your own death to get attention, is your offer actually worth paying attention to?

Maybe still stay away from Cybertrucks just in case,
Olivia

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P.S. What marketing campaign should I put on the autopsy table next?
Hit reply and let me know if there's a corpse I should examine 💀