In the social media world, word neologisms, such as „Milkshake Duck,“ are a frequent occurrence. This admittedly rather quirky term is aimed at a (usually female) person who possesses positive and charming qualities and therefore quickly gains popularity on social media. You could also call these qualities charisma. However, despite the rapid rise and extensive popularity, the supposed social media shooting star later turns out to be unpleasant, or behaves offensively.
A „Milkshake Duck“ is therefore a term with negative connotations for a famous person who attracts negative attention and thus abruptly loses sympathy again. However, where the term „Milkshake Duck“ originated and why it is used for this purpose in detail is the subject of the following article. Furthermore, the main areas of use of the term „Milkshake Duck“ will be shown and a social classification will be made.
Definition of the term „Milkshake Duck“
The term „Milkshake Duck“ originates from English and translates as „duck that likes to consume mixed milk drinks“ or „milkshake duck“. This refers to a cartoon character who gained rapid popularity by drinking milkshakes, but was soon exposed as racist and punished (i.e. lost his rum again) in the spirit of „cancel culture“.
A duck is in itself a lovable and peaceful animal, which immediately arouses a lot of sympathy in people. If it drinks a milkshake, this humanization seems even more endearing (comparison: a sweet duck drinks a sweet drink). At the same time, a milkshake represents an innocent drink, which is especially popular with children. The duck is thus automatically attributed the qualities of innocence, peacefulness, kindness and finally sympathy, which it then abruptly loses again.
The reasons for this can be quite versatile – exemplary for this could be a racist statement, an opposing opinion or attitude or another reason, which displeases an authority, society or other institution.
Origin and Meaning of „Milkshake Duck“
The expression „Milkshake Duck“ is a classic internet phenomenon that originated back in June 2016. It goes back to the Australian Twitter user named Ben Ward, who published cartoons under the pseudonym „pixelatedboat“. In one of his posts, he created a fictional, lovable duck that drinks milkshakes and is initially deemed likeable (and thus becomes an Internet star) before it makes a racist remark and then completely loses its rum again. The duck then landed emblematically in the gutter and spent its days from then on by spending its money or its rum on milkshakes (this can be compared with crashes of stars and subsequent alcohol or drug consumption).
Immediately, the milkshake-drinking duck went viral on social media and henceforth served as a metaphor for a fallen shooting star who rapidly climbed the ladder of success before falling from grace again due to a clumsy remark in the spirit of „cancel culture.“
Characteristics of a „Milkshake Duck“
A „Milkshake Duck“ possesses the following characteristics:
- an endearing and visually appealing appearance
- a charming and winning nature
- an almost innocent aura
- clumsy behavior
- drastic views
- immaturity, not very sympathetic inside
- arrogant, self-convinced and egoistic
Thus, a „Milkshake Duck“ (often unconsciously) pretends false facts, which initially make them famous, respectively popular. However, as soon as the facade crumbles (often just as involuntarily), it quickly loses its rum.
Use of the term „Milkshake Duck“
The term „Milkshake Duck“ went viral in recent years and is now used primarily on social media as well as in the everyday vernacular of youth subcultures. Both areas of usage will therefore be discussed in more detail in the following subsections.
Social media
On social media, the term „milkshake duck“ is used primarily in hashtags, picture and video captions, and in short clips themselves. It is mainly used when talking about a fallen star – for example, a trash TV star – who was initially very popular before a certain format, but rapidly lost popularity due to the broadcast.
Youth subcultures
In youth subcultures, „Milkshake Duck“ is used primarily in short message services as well as in everyday speech to discredit oneself in a charming way. The term „Milkshake Duck“ is used here for a person who rapidly gained popularity in a group, workplace, or circle of friends, but quickly lost it again due to a clumsy behavior or some other faux pas.
Social classification of „Milkshake Duck“
Socially, the term „Milkshake Duck“ can be attributed primarily to younger generations, such as Generation Y, Generation Z and Generation Alpha. Accordingly, the generations mentioned are people who are younger than 35 years old and by whom this trend term is generally understood. Milkshake Duck“ is often not understood by people of older generations, or the media in which the term is preferably used are often not used by them. Furthermore, the term is also popular with gossip media on social media or on television.
Criticisms of „Milkshake Duck“
The term „Milkshake Duck“ – although this is quite harmless – also has a number of critics. The main criticism is that it is just another meaningless trendy term that only a „sworn community“ can understand. Another criticism is that a „Milkshake Duck“ embodies the spirit of the „cancel culture“ and thus legitimizes it. Often in life, much depends on mere sympathy and less on one’s own creation or achievements, which is sharply opposed by critics.
Conclusion on the „Milkshake Duck“ theme
In summary, then, a „Milkshake Duck“ is a trending term from the Internet community that has existed since 2016 and originated on the social media platform Twitter. There, this was invented by a cartoonist and went viral less later. The „Milkshake Duck“ then quickly spread on Twitter, Instagram as well as TikTok and gradually found its way onto television, or rather into the everyday language of youth subcultures.
The terms „Rat Girl“ and „Beige Flag“, for example, are related to the term „Milkshake Duck“. While a „Rat Girl“ is a social media term for a girl or young woman who is close to nature and likes to be outdoors and „marauding“ through the neighborhood, a „Beige Flag“ is also a trendy term from the social media world that describes a boring dating partner.