Was Blake Griffin, DeMarcus Cousins Twitter beef a contrived gimmick?
A so-called beef involving NBA superstars Blake Griffin and DeMarcus Cousins — and ex-NBAers-turned-analysts Jalen Rose and Paul Pierce for good mesaure — blew up on Twitter recently, and it appears it was nothing more than a contrived advertising gimmick perpetrated by a toilet paper company, of all things.
The social media dust-up, as it originally appeared to be, was spawned by Griffin calling out Rose and Pierce as soft while tagging Cousins in a tweet and mentioning Charmin.
.@paulpierce34 @JalenRose y’all are soft but not NEARLY as soft as @boogiecousins.#softlikeCharmin #charminpartner
— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin23) June 24, 2019
Cousins responded to the perceived slight a short while later with a series of tweets.
Yo @blakegriffin23 you have no room to talk. Your skills need so much cleanup it’ll take more than @Charmin to wipe your soft act off the court #softlikeCharmin #charminpartner
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) June 24, 2019
I’m not sure what’s worse @paulpierce34 running off the court to go or @JalenRose staying on to soil the game. I think you both deserve a #softlikeCharmin award. #charminpartner
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) June 24, 2019
.@paulpierce34 ask my two gold medals who the real amateurs are. @JalenRose and @blakegriffin23 a #softlikeCharmin award might look good in your empty trophy case. #charminpartner
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) June 24, 2019
Griffin later responded in kind, as did Rose and Pierce.
.hey @boogiecousins unlike @paulpierce34 i score number two’s in the basket and not on the court. #softlikeCharmin #charminpartner
— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin23) June 24, 2019
Hey @blakegriffin23 @paulpierce34 @boogiecousins what’s it like scoring twos? I’ve been too busy sinking threes #softlikeCharmin #charminpartner
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) June 24, 2019
.@paulpierce34 I just ran out of TP and thought of you. Too bad @Charmin didn’t have courtside delivery back in 2008 when you scored your #slamdump #softlikeCharmin #charminpartner
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) June 24, 2019
Oh no @boogiecousins got his feelings hurt. Grab the @Charmin, he needs his diaper changed #softlikeCharmin #charminpartner
— Jalen Rose (@JalenRose) June 24, 2019
Sometimes I feel bad for softies like @JalenRose who have an empty trophy case. Maybe @Charmin should fill it with a #softlikeCharmin award #charminpartner
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) June 24, 2019
.@JalenRose you clearly don’t know what it’s like to push your game to my limits and that’s why you’ve always been #softlikeCharmin #Charminpartner
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) June 24, 2019
The notion that the trash-talking exchanges were some part of an advertising blitz is readily evident given the hashtags that all four participants used in every tweet: #softlikeCharmin and #Charmin partner.
Social media beefs are commonplace when it comes to NBA stars, so Charmin arguably deserves credit for the somewhat hackneyed guerrilla marketing campaign surrounding the guys’ idle smack talk. While a contrived gambit, indeed, it was nevertheless a cleverly executed one.
After all, who would think following NBA superstars on Twitter would expose a fan to savvy promotions for toilet paper?
