The #Target #Troll Returns, Goes After #Homophobic #Doritos Haters

Huffington Post

A little while back, Target changed to a gender neutral shelving system with their toys and other children's products. A large contingent of very stupid people were very annoyed, attracting the attention of a certain Mike Melgaard, who posed as Target's official customer service account, before proceeding to openly (and hilariously) insult everyone who complained about the change. Even when he was eventually rumbled, Target not-so-subtly hinted that they were actually pretty cool with what he did.

Huffington Post

Well, I'm delighted to say that he has struck again, this time on behalf of Doritos. The company recently unveiled a limited range of rainbow coloured chips in support of an LGBT campaign. Putting aside the fact that they probably taste a bit weird, the move has attracted the ire of a slew of homophobic customers, who have set about attacking them on Facebook for daring to support equal rights. As a long time lover of Doritos, I believe I can say with some authority that these people are not affiliated with us.

Melgaard has since come to the rescue, crafting another fake customer service account and basically doing the exact same thing he did last time. The key difference is that a lot of slightly more educated people very quickly figured out that it was him and actually jumped on Doritos' Facebook wall to register their support/joke around. As far as the actual homophobes were concerned, the responses often made reference to the delicious twinge of irony that they were using Facebook, a company which openly and proudly supports the LGBT community, to bash Frido-Lays for openly and proudly supporting the LGBT community.

Huffington Post

As yet, Melgaard hasn't been ousted for his sneaky behaviour, and he might well be able to carry on unchecked this time, considering how many people are wise to his act. As stated, the only people who are seemingly unaware that it's not an actual Doritos customer service account are the ones complaining. Stop me if I'm overreaching, but I think a pretty large contingent of those people might actually be hopelessly out of touch?

Rather than just being a general blanket statement supporting LGBTs, the rainbow chips were actually introduced to back the 'It Gets Better' campaign, which supports young members of the community by attempting to create a more accepting, comfortable environment for them to grow up in. Customers have been encouraged to further broadcast their support on Twitter under the #BOLDANDBETTER hashtag.

Huffington Post

The support they've received since joining the project has been so massive that they've actually run out of rainbow chips, which makes it even funnier when you realise that these people are spouting bullshit about a product that they will never even encounter. In fact, Melgaard's involvement will likely end up raising even further awareness of It Gets Better, potentially even bringing them more support. Slim justification for homophobia, but it's nice to see people finding ways to turn meaningless bile into something useful from time to time.

Melgaard directly addressed the issues surrounding the It Gets Better project on his own personal Facebook page with a far more serious tone, and wouldn't you know it, he absolutely hit the nail on the head.

For those who are actually THAT upset over Frito-Lay offering the public to purchase rainbow colored Doritos:Did it...
Posted by Mike Melgaard on Friday, 18 September 2015

Callum Davies

Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF

Contact us on Twitter, on Facebook, or leave your comments below. To find out about social media training or management why not take a look at our website for more info: TheSMFGroup.com