Record breaking chicken nuggets tweet triggers $100k donation to charity
Howard Lake | 10 May 2017 | News
The record-breaking success of a US teenager’s tweet asking for a year’s supply of chicken nuggets from a fast food chain has generated a corporate donation of $100,000 to charity.
Carter Wilkerson in Nevada tweeted to Wendy’s on 6 April, asking how many retweets he would need in order to receive a year’s free supply of chicken nuggets.
Yo @Wendys how many retweets for a year of free chicken nuggets?
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017
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Wendy’s replied within a minute or so, with a terse and seemingly insurmountable “18 Million”.
That did not put Wilkerson off. “Consider it done” he replied. He took a screenshot of the Twitter conversation and posted it, asked for help from Twitter users in reaching that target. It wasn’t poetry, but it got noticed.
HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017
Eighteen million retweets is a tall order, given that the then record of most retweeted tweet was the 3.43m achieved by actor Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie of fellow actors at the Oscars ceremony.
Yet Wilkerson’s tweet has now passed that, and is at 3.54 million retweets.
Congratulations to @carterjwm who just broke @TheEllenShow's record for most retweeted tweet on @Twitter #NuggsForCarter pic.twitter.com/gwKyq8zmfP
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) May 9, 2017
To mark the breaking of the record, Wendy’s made a donation to charity of $100,000 or around £78,000. This was given to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a nonprofit set up by the founder of Wendy’s in 1992.
.@carterjwm is now the most retweeted tweet of all-time. That’s good for the nuggets, and $100k to @DTFA. Consider it done. #nuggsforcarter pic.twitter.com/k6uhsJiP4E
— Wendy’s (@Wendys) May 9, 2017
Thanks to your love of nuggs, we'll be able to find more forever families for kids in foster care! Thank you @carterjwm & @Wendys!!❤️ https://t.co/GphRvusUuC
— Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (@DTFA) May 9, 2017
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.