The Guilt-Tripping Owl Continues to Keep People Chirping
Published on Feb. 24, 2025, at 5:15 p.m.
by Ava Stevens.
At surface level, Duolingo may seem like just a language learning application, yet below the surface, the brand has evolved into so much more. Whether you’ve personally used the app or just heard of it through word of mouth, Duolingo certainly knows how to make itself relevant by creating content that keeps people talking.
By integrating unique marketing strategies, acknowledging current events and headlining a mascot with a complex personality, Duolingo has attained success in its attempt to capture the attention of Gen Z. So, how exactly did an educational app grasp so much attention?
Unless you’re an anomaly in society, everyone is guilty of ignoring notifications, texts and alerts. Duolingo thus made an effort for its notifications to stand out against others.
The notifications come from the perspective of Duolingo’s mascot, Duo the owl. He is known for being relentless, persistent and even threatening. The brand has achieved success with keeping its users engaged through a technique called “guilt marketing,” which aims to motivate users to stay active on the app.
Countless memes regarding Duo’s passive-aggressive notifications have circulated the internet. Since the notifications come from Duo, the owl has successfully established its own personality.
Duolingo has formed a positive relationship with Gen Z through acknowledgment of current events, making the brand personable and present. A successful example was the obsession the brand started with celebrity Dua Lipa for their similar names. Lipa may be most known as a pop star, but she quickly became the owner of Duo’s heart after internet users positively responded to the brand’s captivating jokes involving her.
According to Globalgrind, Duolingo’s strategic branding of the mascot is said to be “wholesome and unhinged,” which seemed to create the perfect balance for capturing Gen Z’s attention. To keep this attention, Duolingo’s next move left people shocked.
On Feb. 11, Duo was announced dead through a post on X. The post said that “authorities are currently investigating his cause of death,” yet in the meantime, Duolingo posted, “Tbh, he probably died waiting for you to do your lesson, but what do we know,” a post that circles back to the use of guilt marketing to drive user engagement. Rather than sending flowers in commemoration of the mascot, Duolingo asked that people complete a lesson instead, leading users right back to the app.
Lipa chose to chime in (completely unsponsored) after the announcement of Duo’s death. A representative from Duolingo told CNN that the company is “just as shocked (and honored) as anyone that she’s acknowledged his tragic fate” after seeing Lipa’s reaction to the owl’s death.
Just over 24 hours after the devastating announcement, the brand posted a video of Duo getting run over by a Cybertruck on its X account. Within minutes of the post, thousands of users reacted to the news, and once again Duolingo successfully created relevant and humorous content to engage Gen Z.
The number of Duolingo downloads reached 15% higher than the 2025 average on the day that Duo died — a datapoint never reached before. While the reason for removing Duo from the face of the brand remained unknown for 12 days, it can be inferred that Duolingo had a strategic, and chaotic, plan in progress.
On Feb. 24, Duolingo posted a video on X of the mascot breaking out of a coffin with the caption, “y’all really think i’d let a cybertruck take me out? #duolingohasrisen.” After seeing a spike in application downloads, it is safe to say that Duo’s death was nothing short of a marketing test that users passed, according to “resurrected” owl.
