Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Cheerios responds to Twitter ‘bet’

Last Week Tonight

There was no new episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver this weekend on HBO. Yet, the show still found a way to generate headlines!

Late Sunday, the show’s official YouTube Channel posted what is a truly absurd segment all about cereal, and Oliver’s hot-take that there has been almost nothing relevant in this world in over a decade. In particular, he takes Cheerios to task for having the most bland and uninteresting Twitter account ever, where they post nothing but wholesome messages and no little to attract more attention to who they are.

His reaction to this? Challenge them to write “f— you” on Twitter; in return, the show would donate a substantial amount of money to charity. Meanwhile, they’d double it if Cheerios directed their f-bomb towards a particular person who was following them. It was a totally random, and hilarious challenge — it’s similar when the show got Pringles to show the full body of their mascot. It gives everyone publicity and in that sense, isn’t it a win-win?

Yet, here is the thing: We knew that Cheerios wasn’t going to go through with this. Pringles showing off their mascot is a reasonably on-brand thing for them to do. A cereal company for families dropping a swear-word online? Pretty much the opposite of that. Yet, they did respond on Twitter to the bet saying that they’ll go ahead and donate $50,000 to No Kid Hungry. Not only that, but they’ll donate an additional $50,000 to the charity of the show’s choice if they tweet an on-brand-for-Cheerios wholesome message.

Did the show get what they want? Not exactly, but this is one of those situations where everyone still wins. After all, both the cereal and the show get a chance to generate some publicity for themselves at a time when nobody would be really talking about them otherwise.

What do you think about this Last Week Tonight – crazy Cheerios exchange?

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