3 lessons from jumping on a stupid meme way too late
The story behind Perdue’s “6 7” chicken nuggets.
Perdue Foods knew it was cringe. They admit it in the first line of the press release announcing the product.
They also knew they were way too late. Data from Google Trends shows interest in the “6 7” meme peaked back in October 2025. Searches for the term have cratered since then.
Despite these two reasons to abandon the initiative, Perdue Foods moved forward anyway.
In April, the poultry producer announced plans to roll out limited-edition chicken nuggets shaped like the numbers 6 and 7, a reference to the popular “6 7” meme that, for a time, was uttered by kids everywhere.
The gamble paid off.
The news generated more than 250 media placements, leading to nearly 4 billion impressions, according to the company. Over 24,000 people entered their names, emails and mailing addresses for a chance to try the “6 7” nuggets before they appeared in stores — the highest participation rate for any giveaway in Perdue’s history. After the product appeared exclusively at Walmart stores on May 1, the retailer forecasts a complete sellout is just around the corner.
“This has really opened our eyes that we can do a lot more,” said Chris Perdue, senior vice president of marketing, digital and e-commerce at Perdue Farms, the parent company of Perdue Foods. He’s also the great-grandson of Arthur Perdue, who founded the company in 1920.
Perdue, who described the project as a marketing stunt rather than a revenue driver, shared three lessons Perdue Farms learned from the exercise, including the importance of self-awareness, the value of focusing on a non-obvious audience and the power of participating in culture.
@perdue.chicken Dinner is served. Available for a limited time #67 #chickennuggets #walmart ♬ original sound – Perdue Chicken
- Self-awareness sells
Perdue Foods knew from the start that marketing “6 7” chicken nuggets would be met with ridicule. Rather than take themselves too seriously, however, the company embraced the embarrassing and awkward aspects of it.
Another line from the official press release reads: “Whether you’re trying to take the fun out of the phrase — or have fully surrendered to it — Perdue has your back and your dinner plate covered.”
On LinkedIn, for example, Perdue himself described the campaign as “self-aware,” noting that “cringe has never been so crispy.”
In internet trend years, Perdue’s nuggets arrived about a decade after the party ended.
“We knew by the time we brought this to market we were going to be late, so we needed to future proof that messaging timeline and really lean into the cringiness of it,” said Perdue.
Self-deprecating humor, it turns out, is a great way to defend against the mockery of others.
- Think hard about the target audience
Rather than aiming to appeal to the young people who participated in the “6 7” meme, Perdue Foods focused on their parents — who are tired of hearing it and usually the ones doing the grocery shopping.
Billboards promoting the chicken nuggets, for instance, imply that one benefit of buying the product is that they offer parents “6-7 minutes of silence.”
A page on Perdue’s website featuring the “6 7” nuggets includes the line, “Here to rescue dinner — and your sanity.”
“We’re not trying to do this to make the kids who started the trend think that we’re a really great, cool brand,” said Perdue. “We’re trying to capitalize on a trend that’s in the marketplace, and the best way to future proof our ability to stay relevant throughout the evolution of this trend is to really lean into the reaction of the trend, not the inception of the trend.”
This is where the parents come into play, Perdue noted. They’re the ones who buy the groceries, anyway.
“Let’s almost flip the script and let the parents be in the driver’s seat of bringing this trend to life from a product perspective,” said Perdue. Now, he added, “the kids are going to roll their eyes.”
- Connection through culture
As a food brand, Perdue explained, the company hasn’t tracked general cultural trends as closely as it has developments related to flavor, ingredients and packaging.
Given the response to its “6 7” nuggets campaign, that’s going to change.
“This is one of the largest earned impression opportunities that we’ve had as a brand in at least the last five years,” said Perdue. “The pickup that we saw was incredible.”
Perdue noted the company now has a newfound excitement about making the process of turning an idea centered around a cultural trend into a product a bigger part of the business’ regular routine.
As he put it: “You’ll see more products like this coming out on the marketplace in the near future.”
