A ranking of Duolingo’s most insane marketing stunts from unhinged to heartbreaking

Duolingo has literally built its whole brand around its increasingly unhinged marketing stunts, with some being far more weird and heartbreaking than others.

After the recent news the owl got hit by a car and died, I thought it was only prudent to rank some of the most memorable marketing stunts the language app has done in their time so far. So, let’s have a look at them all!

4. The owl’s ongoing love and borderline obsession with Dua Lipa

Til' death duo part 💔 https://t.co/XqVUTK5E0V

— DUA LIPA (@DUALIPA) February 12, 2025

Honestly, I’m with the owl on this one. If you’re not even a little bit obsessed with Dua Lipa, is everything okay with you??

What better marketing than to get one of the most famous pop stars to frequently shout you out on their personal socials? She even mourned his death on Twitter, and same.

3. Bringing the owl to the SWEAT tour opening night

@duolingo

charli said “talk to me in french” and we listened 🗣️ #brat #sweattour credit: @Julia 💚 #charlixcx #troyesivan

♬ DUOLINGO RIGHT THERE BABY – Duolingo

The opening night of Charli XCX’s SWEAT tour really was an iconic moment in time, so obviously the Duolingo owl had to be there in one of the wildest crossover marketing stunts I’ve ever seen.

And it wasn’t just one Duolingo owl that attended the concert, but many, many owls. Genuinely, in videos from other audience members, you can just see a sea of green owl heads, it’s slightly disconcerting.

But it clearly paid off as Charli XCX even got the owls their own personal shoutout, singing: “Duolingo right there baby.”

Oh to be the Duolingo owl at a Charli XCX concert, one can dream.

2. Leaning into the idea that the owl could cause you harm if you miss your language lessons

you could be having the worst day of your life and here comes duolingo bullying you to extend your streak

— فوفو المُتَوَحِّش (@mankoochie) February 9, 2025

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Something about the Duolingo owl has always unnerved me somewhat, and I did sometimes feel genuine terror about missing my lessons. So much so that for a procrastinating people pleaser like myself I simply had to delete the app in the end.

However, Duolingo decided to fully lean into this aura of fear for their marketing stunts on TikTok, constantly alluding to the fact that you can genuinely be in danger from the owl if you miss even one lesson.

Even now, with the owl seemingly gone, I still feel unsafe from its wrath.

1. Duolingo decided to kill off its owl mascot

an important message from Duolingo pic.twitter.com/jTTT680yVs

— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 11, 2025

Yeah, erm so Duolingo do you mind telling me what this is all about? Because as much as I have an innate distrust of that owl I wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet.

To be fair, out of all of their wild marketing stunts this one is definitely the most unhinged Duolingo has ever done – at least now we finally know his cause of death we can all rest easy at night.

Now I’m just waiting for them to explain themselves. Why Duolingo, why???

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