It’s taken less than a week for a kid who just really loves chicken nuggets to come within touching distance of the most retweeted tweet of all time.
Nevada teen Carter Wilkerson, 16, needs 18 million retweets to get a year’s worth of free chicken nuggets from fast food chain Wendy’s, and the Twitterverse is doing everything it can to get that boy his nuggs.
The tweet was sent on April 6 and has amassed almost 2.7 million retweets – still some way off what Carter needs, but very close to Twitter’s current top tweet.
HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017
Wendy’s has actually been pretty good at sharing a lot of the attention the tweet has received, which might be why it is coming so close to the record-breaking tweet sent by Ellen DeGeneres at the 2014 Oscars, which hit 3.2 million.
If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 2014
After all, when was the last time Wendy’s was in the news this much? Microsoft threw their support behind the tweet, and encouraged Amazon and Google to do the same.
We're in. How about you, @Amazon and @Google? #NuggsForCarter https://t.co/zi8FmD6Cf8
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) April 7, 2017
@Microsoft @Google @Microsoft Oh, we are so in. #NuggsForCarter
— Amazon (@amazon) April 8, 2017
@Microsoft Feeling lucky, @carterjwm? #NuggsForCarter https://t.co/pYqVV6rBh3
— Google (@Google) April 8, 2017
United Airlines, who have been in the news recently themselves (although for reasons very different to Wendy’s), offered Carter a free flight to a city with a Wendy’s if he achieves his goal.
If you get the 18 million RTs, we'll give you a free flight to take you to any @Wendys in the world in a city we serve. Good luck! https://t.co/igxnPg1JUF
— United (@united) April 8, 2017
And other brands have also been quick to seize on the opportunity.
Hey, @carterjwm! Hit 18m and we've got your food coma sleep pack ready. You're gonna need it ??. #NuggsForCarter cc: @Wendys https://t.co/nwe39wFL0x
— Mattress Firm (@MattressFirm) April 8, 2017
The CEO of T-Mobile made a pretty unusual, and slightly petty, move.
Hey @carterjwm, sorry you have @ATT. Switch to @TMobile & I'll give you a year of free @Wendys chicken nuggets myself + more! Seriously. https://t.co/RmVygHPPob
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) April 8, 2017
And Aaron Paul is finding the whole thing pretty inspirational – we reckon his character Jesse from Breaking Bad would very much approve.
It's good to have dreams https://t.co/gY4WfBX45i
— Aaron Paul (@aaronpaul_8) April 8, 2017
It looks like it’s shaping up to be a pretty great year for Carter.