R&B and soul music sensation Dionne Warwick took streaming giant Hulu to task over the platform’s ad-free tier.
The situation began when Warwick posted an engaging tweet asking for any and all brands to share a response. “Even the mayonnaise companies,” she wrote. Hulu replied soon after, writing, “We’re here for the plot.” Minutes later, Warwick quote tweeted the reply with, “If I paid for no ads, why am I seeing ads…? What part of the plot is that?”
In response to what was clearly an unexpected turn of events, Hulu wrote, “That would be the plot twist.” Warwick twisted the plot even further, however, tweeting, “Refund us for the ads then.” Accepting defeat, Hulu concluded the exchange by writing, “We just run the twitter account, but we’ll flag this to the powers above and also let them know we got ratioed by Dionne Warwick.”
We just run the twitter account, but we’ll flag this to the powers above and also let them know we got ratioed by Dionne Warwick.
— Hulu (@hulu) October 20, 2021
When all was said and done, Warwick confirmed what many had suspected, writing that “This was, in fact, a trap.” Other brands that fell into said trap include Subway (Warwick questioned what’s really in the sandwich company’s notorious tuna), Chuck E. Cheese (she mocked the eponymous mouse’s various redesigns), Among Us (something was sus) and McDonald’s (she called out the stringency of the 11:00 a.m. breakfast window). Unfortunately, despite summoning Taco Bell by its Twitter handle to pitch a new sauce, the Mexican-inspired fast-food chain remained silent.
As for Hulu, the streaming platform just recently raised its rates at the start of October, with the price of the ad-supported plan jumping from $5.99 to $6.99/month and the ad-free plan going from $11.99 to $12.99/month. In regards to Warwick’s claim, certain shows are exempt from the ad-free stipulation on the latter tier and will air ads at the beginning and the end of each episode.
Warwick’s career began in 1955, and in the early 1960s, she recorded her first solo single, “Don’t Make Me Over.” More recently, she appeared as the Mouse on Season 3 of The Masked Singer, and in February 2021, she was nominated for the esteemed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her documentary, Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September (she asked Amazon Prime Video to stream it but the platform has yet to respond).
Source: Twitter
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