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Parody Twitter account irks Frito-Lay

Twitter deletes a parody account apeing Frito-Lay chips after the jokesters behind the tweets take things a little too far.

 

Fernando Alfonso III

IRL

Posted on Sep 12, 2011   Updated on Jun 3, 2021, 2:50 am CDT

Frito-Lay has had its fill of a Twitter parody account poking fun at the company’s products and its consumers.

The account, @fritoiay, which was responsible for making racially charged jokes at the expense of the snack food company, has been suspended after Frito-Lay became aware of it Friday afternoon.

With the help of Del Harvey, the head of Twitter’s Trust and Safety team, Frito-Lay (@fritolay) submitted a complaint to have the parody account taken down.

“As expected, we’re disappointed when our name is misrepresented and offensive statements are made by someone posing as Frito-Lay, as it undermines the integrity of our company, our employees and our consumers,” said Frito-Lay in a statement provided to the Daily Dot. “ Most encouraging however is how our fans have responded in this situation — by tweeting on our behalf to alert other fans to the fraudulent Twitter account and help us spread the word that only the verified Twitter handle, @FritoLay, is a valid Frito-Lay account engaging with fans on Twitter.”

The parody account, which was almost identical to @fritolay in name and look, also joked about ingredients used in Frito-Lay products.

This recent parody account dust up proves that any sort of Twitter parody account, whether it be of a person or a company, is fair game from suspension.

For more information on parody account guidelines and how to report impersonations, visit Twitter’s help center.

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*First Published: Sep 12, 2011, 1:45 pm CDT