The subject matter may have been dark, but the audience was huge -- so some brands couldn't resist trying for real-time marketing tie-ins with the Breaking Bad series finale on Sunday.
Marketers tried their best to find elements in the show to address. For instance, a poisoning plot point in the finale provided an opportunity for some brands in the alternative sweetener category.
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Spoiler alert: In the final episode, antihero Walter White replaces a character's stevia with the poison ricin, ensuring fatal consequences. Though stevia is an unbranded ingredient, marketers of products using stevia, including Truvia and soft drink Zevia, have addressed the mention in their Twitter feeds:
Lydia should have switched to #Truvia. #BreakingBad #SweetSwitch— Truvia (@truvia) September 30, 2013
Goodbye, @BreakingBad_AMC! Grab a Zevia, the safe replacement for your chamomile tea with questionable #stevia packets!— ZEVIA (@Zevia) September 30, 2013
The mentions come after this cheeky call-out from Clorox, which references Walter White's penchant for tighty whities:
Some whites never change #BreakingBad pic.twitter.com/cjw1OTqEPB— Clorox (@Clorox) September 30, 2013
Miller Lite also joined in the fun:
Who else needs a beer after that finale? #BreakingBad pic.twitter.com/atqz61OPNg— Miller Lite (@MillerLite) September 30, 2013
As did J.C. Penney:
"Respect the chemistry." #BreakingBad http://t.co/MKV0ILaI9e pic.twitter.com/GRKrNv9tR8— jcpenney (@jcpenney) September 30, 2013