Katy Perry was in the news not too long ago for being a part of the first all-female flight crew in space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spacecraft. The historic flight included five other prominent women: film producer Kerianne Flynn, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, and journalists Gayle King and Lauren Sánchez. Sánchez, now engaged to Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, likely worked with Perry on this first of its kind program. Their artistic partnership has become a lightning rod celebration and controversy.
It was a reckless flight targeted to test the limits of what’s safe during commercial space travel. It made headlines not only for its relevance, but for asking pivotal questions that challenged the idea of sustainability. Critics, including everyday citizens and celebrities like Olivia Wilde and Emily Ratajkowski, voiced concerns about the environmental impact of such missions. Even with the pushback, Perry celebrated the historic experience with her daughter, Daisy, who was there to share in seeing her mother make history.
This time, Wendy’s, the immensely popular fast-food chain, stepped into the conversation by going after Katy Perry on Twitter. The brand made several acerbic remarks regarding her space journey, seemingly capitalizing on the public’s mixed feelings toward the flight.
“I kissed the ground and I liked it” – Wendy’s
And when Wendy’s released their commentary—well, they went in hard. They followed with several more statements, personally attacking Perry and her extensive experience in space. One particularly scathing tweet read, “When we advocated for women in STEM this isn’t what we had in mind.” This comment reeks of a tone demeaning what the flight was all about.
Wendy’s description of how short the flight was really hit home when she said, “I can dissociate for much longer than 11 minutes.” Her comment served to underscore how short the flight was. The lighthearted digs did not stop there. One reply sarcastically commented, “Now she understands what feels be a plastic grocery bag flooting [sic] through the wind,” summing up the humanitarian mission with the public’s fascination but mostly alarmed by ago the environmental cost at space.
In spite of Wendy’s haymaker of a comment barrage, not a peep has been heard from Katy Perry on any of these comments. Reps for the singer declined to comment when contacted by TODAY.com.
Wendy’s even went so far as to allude to Perry’s mega hit “Teenage Dream”, incorporating it into their rebuttal of the space jaunt. Their social media campaign is quite literally designed to pull audiences in. The campaign pairs cultural and corporate influencers to make claims in a star-studded bid for climate action that sidesteps the celebrity vs. corporation debate.