Social media trends: Brands capitalize on Scandoval, start breaking out the rainbows, and more

Each week, Marketing Brew recaps what people are talking about on social media, the trends that took over our feeds, and how marketers are responding.

Vanderpump-ing up the dollar bills: In the wake of what’s become known as “Scandoval,” brands are finding ways to partner with the stars of Vanderpump Rules and squeeze every last drop out of this Bravo drama. A few weeks ago, Ariana Madix posted about Bic razors and “starting a whole new, unclogged chapter” in her life following her breakup with Tom Sandoval. More recently, she’s done sponsored posts with Sofi and Raising Cane’s.

Watch your organic posts: Dove posted a tweet praising Beyoncé for apparently using its deodorant, saying “it should cost a billion to smell that good.” The tweet has since been deleted, and lawyer Rob Freund tweeted that “if Dove doesn’t have an endorsement deal with Beyoncé, this is a publicity rights layup for her.” Sometimes the pursuit of #content ain’t worth it.

The now-deleted Tweet by @Dove, via Twitter

It’s already June, the month to celebrate Pride, which also means it’s time to watch which brands hit and which miss the mark in their rainbow-filled posts this year. Another thing we’re watching: which brands skip the rainbow altogether given recent backlash against brands like Target and The North Face, the latter of which stood by its Pride campaign featuring a drag queen in the face of calls for a boycott. Even Chick-fil-A, not exactly known for being the most inclusive, is facing harassment from an “anti-woke” mob these days.