Steak-umm Isn’t Here For Brands Stealing Content

Well, some things happen on the Internet that you don’t quite understand, and today that was Steak-umm, the thin-sliced frozen steaks company, defending the right to curate jokes as a brand rather than stealing content to help your social media game. The brand was caught up in calling out Jimmy Johns, the sandwich chain, for stealing a joke.

It all started when Jimmy Johns posted this tweet.

First, Pluckers pointed out that Jimmy Johns had stolen the tweet.

Steak-umm, who joined in with Pluckers and user captainkalvis on Twitter, was quick to call out Jimmy Johns for stealing the content without giving credit to the original poster.

When Jimmy Johns fired back at Steak-umm, saying “slow day?”, Steak-umm pointed out that it wasn’t fair of Jimmy Johns to steal the joke, especially without any attribution.

My involvement came when I saw Steak-umm’s response and thought it was funny that two brands were feuding over jokes.

If only I had known that Steak-umm had a much nobler cause behind their calling out of Jimmy Johns.

I asked Steak-umm for a comment on their stance and why they thought that curating content was an important aspect of building a brand.

From there, Steak-umm directed me to a thread created by the brand, pointing out the importance of sharing content from creatives and connecting it to what they are selling.

They went on to share why it can get a bit messy when sharing jokes from one another.

The important thing is that Steak-umm was willing to admit that they have participated in these acts as well.

What really hit home was the fact that Steak-umm pointed out how we all use each other’s content to help sell whatever it is we are pushing.

And while we still don’t know how to fix the problem, it is important to note that there is a change that needs to happen.

Steak-umm is doing the right thing—and setting a good example—by sharing those whose content they enjoy that is also original.

This entire situation seems a little out there since they are fast food restaurants and food companies battling about content creation on Twitter, but those behind the Steak-umm account make a good point. So often brands, media outlets, and even journalists will use things they find on the internet, spin it slightly, and claim it as their own without any consequences, and that isn’t fair to those who work so hard on their content creation.

I asked the representative from Steak-umm running the account why it was important to share the content in its original form and give credit where credit is due.

We’ve been active on Twitter the past year and so much of our success has been through befriending and following some of the best content creators on the platform. Being a brand, not all of them welcome us obviously, but the ones who do have really changed our whole outlook on content creation. It’s one of those topics where everyone would rather just quick share or like a meme as they see it, then move on with their day, but we rarely think about where those memes come from.

They went on to share some amazing people who pointed out the problem with brands stealing jokes for their own accounts.

Over time we got close with some incredibly entertaining creators like @NOTVIKING, @captainkalvis, @MichaelaOkla, and @_coryrichardson, and they highlighted to us how serious this problem is spread online. They would DM us profiles of people who were just stealing their tweets word for word and going viral for it, so we started calling people out when we saw it.

What was the most interesting thing about the situation was that Steak-umm has been doing this for almost a year. Calling out the companies stealing content from people and making sure to credit those who have been ripped off when they can.

Steak-umm is the vigilante hero that Twitter needs and we love the work they are putting out there.

So, in the words of Pluckers to Steak-umm…

(Image: Pexels)

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Rachel Leishman

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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