“If you find a squirter marry her.”
That’s the tweet currently taking over Twitter, with shocked reactions in the replies and quotes tweets asking, “What in the world is going on?”
The tweet wasn’t accidentally sent by a politician or a hacked company’s account.
It was tweeted by RadioShack… on purpose.
But why would RadioShack tweet such a thing? It’s simple: RadioShack is a cryptocurrency company now.
That’s right. RadioShack has pivoted to the blockchain and launched its own crypto exchange called Radio Shack Swap. The company even has its own token called $RADIO, currently trading at around a penny. (The crypto crash seems to have knocked it down by two-thirds of its pre-crash value.)
If you visit RadioShack’s website right now, you’ll see that it still does sell some electronic odds-and-ends. But, front and center on the main page is the RadioShack cryptocurrency platform.
In order to appeal to the libertarian-leaning crypto “degens,” (crypto slang for “degenerates,” which some crypto advocates refer to themselves as) the 100-year-old electronics store has also pivoted to posting “edgy” content on Twitter. And while the since-deleted “squirter” tweet may be its biggest attention-grabbing success so far, it’s not the first time the account’s gone viral due to the shock value of seeing your dad’s go-to outlet for old ham radio spare parts slum it up online with some tweet-then-delete edgelord humor.
“who else high af rn” tweeted the @RadioShack account on June 16.
“Taking the second half of an edible after feeling nothing from the first half is always a bad idea. This chocolate bar got me out here fighting for my life,” it posted on June 28.
“This guy fucks,” @RadioShack replied to a user who posted a photo of their old RadioShack “Battery Club” card.
“congrats on the landing of your new giant metal cock elon” the account sent as a reply to Elon Musk on June 17.
RadioShack’s move from your grandpa’s electronic retailer to its current incarnation as a cryptocurrency pumper occurred after the company was bought out by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) in 2020. This was after a tumultuous period for the company, during which it closed a slew of stores and filed for bankruptcy. When REV purchased the company, RadioShack had just 400 physical retail locations, down from its peak of 7,300.
REV is owned by Tai Lopez, who YouTubers know as the internet marketing guy that has long filled the platform with pre-roll video ads promoting “get rich quick” schemes. Perhaps his most well known YouTube video advertisement is “Here in My Garage,” which features Lopez showing off his Lamborghini. It currently has more than 71 million video views.
This isn’t Lopez’s first endeavor in the crypto space. He launched his own line of NFTs earlier this year, which was quickly labeled a scam by critics who claimed that Lopez “siphons out the funds” as soon as a user would mint an NFT.
If REV is successful in its crypto vision for a relaunched RadioShack, perhaps we’ll see other companies make the pivot, too. Over the years, Lopez’s REV has acquired a number of legacy brands, which include Modell’s Sporting Goods, Dressbarn, Linens ‘n Things, and Pier1.
Wicker Basket Coin, anyone?
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