From Taco Emojis to Pancakes On Fleek: Fast Food Brands Target Teens On Social Media [Video]

Here are two obvious statements: One, teenagers love fast food. Two, they hate listening to adults. And that’s a real problem if you’re a modern fast food company these days.

Increasingly, fast food companies like Taco Bell, McDonald’s and others are trying very hard with social media to reach teens like me. Over the last few months, I’ve been working with NPR business reporter Sonari Glinton to examine how well some of these campaigns are working. Including asking some of my friends at Youth Radio to weigh in.

While they like a lot the jokes and humor brands are using, Nila Venkat explains what’s going through her head: “It makes me think they are funny on social media. Doesn’t mean I want to eat their hash browns.”

That doesn’t surprise Lauren Johnson, a digital marketing reporter at Adweek. “Social media and millennial marketing is an extremely tough area for brands …