Why Radio Shack Is Letting Its Twitter Account Run Wild: Explicit Tweets Explained

RadioShack has let loose on Twitter with a series of questionable and explicit tweets, but it isn’t an intern gone rogue, it’s a turning point for the electronics retailer.

The company’s Twitter account, which has about 272,400 followers, seemed to be hacked this week as a number of wild tweets were posted by the retailer, who has now dived into cryptocurrency.

RadioShack has introduced its own crypto-exchange called RadioShack Swap, where consumers can buy and sell currency. The company has also debuted its own coin dubbed $RADIO, which is trading under a penny.

On the RadioShack website, there are still electronic items to purchase, but the main focus of the site is its cryptocurrency platform.

But what it has really gotten attention for lately is a series of tweets that range from explicit to mocking, depending on who they are targeted toward. Tweets posted by the brand as of late have covered topics ranging from sex, drugs, and the name-calling of competitors with obscenity used in the majority of them.

While followers of the company thought that RadioShack had been hacked after a now-deleted explicit sexual post went viral, another tweet that followed seemed to clear up any confusion.

A so-called RadioShack "intern" took to Twitter to sound off about the new marketing direction, saying, “Shack intern here. I wanted to take a sec to reflect on my post. Ik your expecting me to say, in my wildest dreams I never thought that tweet would go viral and to apologize.

“But i did because ik that [expletive] was fire [expletive]. No we didnt get hacked, and no im not fired. Buckle up [expletive].”

The new marketing strategy may be paying off for RadioShack, which was trending on the social media platform on Thursday morning. According to Mashable, the social media move is an attempt to attract a younger and more “edgy” crowd with its cryptocurrency platform.

RadioShack actually got into cryptocurrency in December 2021, but some consumers are only discovering the platform now. On the retailer’s website, it said, “Think you know crypto? You don’t know shack.”

RadioShack’s mission with the currency swap is to “be the first protocol to bridge the gap to mainstream usage of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.”

RadioShack was bought by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) in 2020 amid filing for bankruptcy and the closing of a flurry of stores, which whittled down its brick-and-mortar footprint to just 400 locations, Mashable reported.

REV owner Tai Lopez is a well-known YouTuber who posts “get rich quick scheme” videos. Lopez also launched a line of NFTs earlier in 2022, which was considered a scam by many as he was accused of siphoning out the funds once the user minted the NFT, Mashable said.

REV has also acquired struggling retailers such as Modell's Sporting Goods, Dressbarn, Linens 'n Things, and Pier 1.