Blame the Intern

If you’ve spent any time on the internet in the last 5 years, you will have no doubt seen this ad for a graphic design position that was created in good old Microsoft Paint:

This image went viral for several reasons – it was funny, it was relatable and it really hit that ‘so bad it’s good’ sweet spot of internet content.

While this specific image first appeared way back in 2017, you might have noticed that ‘bad design is good design’ has had a major resurgence in 2022, and has brought along its copywriting cousin equivalent.

Multiple international brands have made recent references to their fictional interns or juniors creating not-so-quality content, and have reaped the rewards of relatability in the way of massive engagement across social.

Brookvale Union played to the Facebook algorithm with a paid ad featuring a platform native video showcasing a veritable list of graphic design don’ts:

Magners received multiple comments, likes and reshares with their St Patrick’s Day campaign posts featuring poorly edited product photography:

And while the last examples relied on bad photoshop and set-and-forget paid reach, Typo nailed community management by using casual, direct copy to keep the conversation going. Captions asked customers to buy the featured product to help the junior “impress her boss at the next Monday meeting”. Relatable Gen Z linguistic gems like “thx bestie” and “omg dead” featured heavily in responses, leaning into the culture of Typo’s tween to young adult target market and generating an impressive comment count.

The loveable intern trend can be tricky to master. A playful (and intentionally) inept approach may be perfect for a Gen Z focussed fashion company, but would be completely out of place if your brand positioning was more corporate. It’s important to keep your branding consistent, relevant and appropriate, and that includes your tone.

At KEO, we live and breathe brand and ask the big questions to really get to know your stakeholders and how they communicate. If you need a hand with social media, drop us a line and we’ll get our intern right on it.