Save Big Bird: PBS Turns Memes Into Marketing Gold

The presidential debate last night has already spawned an influx of memes, but the best of them concern the Sesame Street character Big Bird after GOP hopeful Mitt Romney hinted that his alphabet reciting days may soon be over if he takes the presidency.

Though admitting that he loves Big Bird, Romney is dead-set on cutting PBS’s government funding, prompting the internet to rush to the beloved Sesame Street icon with meme tributes, Twitter accounts, and fundraising campaigns.

In a genuine display of quick thinking and marketing cunning, PBS has embraced the deluge of Big Bird memes and the attention afforded the network thanks to the debate. PBS decided to make an ad buy for the phrase “Big Bird” on Twitter, so whenever you search Big Bird on the popular microblog, you’ll see an ad for PBS with a link to valuepbs.org, which reveals how much running the network actually costs taxpayers per year: $1.35.

If you’re a fan of PBS and Sesame Street, you can actually follow or RT either of these posts below within the article:

Big Bird: My bed time is usually 7:45, but I was really tired yesterday and fell asleep at 7! Did I miss anything last night?

— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) October 4, 2012

PBS is trusted, valued and essential. See why at valuepbs.org. (please retweet!)

— PBS (@PBS) October 4, 2012