Chiitan Twitter (X) Ads

About

Chiitan Twitter Ads refers to a series of advertisements on X / Twitter bought by Japanese mascot Chiitan. The physical comedy videos, which introduce Chiitan as "the god of advertising" in the world, achieved widespread recognition on X / Twitter in 2024 and inspired discussions and memes, with some users blocking Chiitan and others praising the mascot for displacing regular ads.

Origin

Chiitan is a Japanese mascot self-described as "0-year-old fairy baby" otter who wears a turtle as a hat. The mascot once declared itself an unofficial representative of the city of Susaki, although in 2019, the city's officials rejected their association with the mascot over the controversial nature of Chiitan's chaotic videos.

In late November 2023, Chiitan's management company started purchasing advertisements for the mascot on X / Twitter. The advertisements contained clips of Chiitan's physical comedy, often the mascot attempting to perform a certain feat and failing, with the description introducing Chiitan as "the god of advertising who was born to drive out advertising in the world." Two of the earliest found Chiitan ads were uploaded to X^[1] / Twitter on November 24th, 2023 (example shown below).

I'm Chiitan, Japan's crazy mascot.
I'm the god of advertising who was born to drive out advertising in the world.
I don't have any products or information to recommend, so please watch the video and laugh.
I hope you have a good day today.

Spread

In the following months, Chiitan advertised several dozen of its videos, all paired with the same caption. For example, an ad launched on February 19th, 2024, garnered over 90.2 million views on X^[2] in four months (shown below).

The presence of Chiitan advertisements on X / Twitter has been reflected in various memes since February 2024. On February 12th, 2024, X^[3] user @ferbyderb posted the earliest meme about the ad campaign, which received over 1,800 reposts and 18,000 likes in four months (shown below, left). On February 29th, X^[4] user @kareemmpie made the earliest notable negative post about the ads, posting a screenshot of Chiitan's blocked X account. The post (shown below, right) garnered over 200 reposts and 1,800 likes in four months.

In the following months, a number of posts complaining about Chiitan ads were posted on X / Twitter, with other users quoting these posts with explanations that seeing Chiitan meant not seeing regular ads.

For example, on May 30th, 2024, X^[5] user @Akumabat made a PTSD Dog meme about seeing Chiitan ads that garnered over 2,900 reposts and 51,000 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). Later on May 30th, X^[6] user @SittinGengar replied with an I'll Kidnap a Thousand Children meme that garnered over 400 reposts and 8,400 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

In June 2024, more posts both criticizing and defending Chiitan's ads went viral on X / Twitter.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References