Critical Role Wendy's Controversy

In 2019 at New York Comic Con, Wendy's launched their TTRPG Feasts of Legends. One of their promotional campaigns was a partnership with Critical Role, who ran a product placement One Shot with Sam Riegel as the Dungeon Master and Matt Mercer, Marisha Ray, Liam O'Brien and Ify Nwadiwe as players. The Critical Role fandom's reactions to the sponsored one shot was divided and hevily discussed. Likely due to the controversy, the one shot was removed from Critical Role's the Twitch library, the episode was not posted on YouTube, and all profits from the game were donated to charity. Oct 4, 2019 from the official CR Twitter account, accessed 12 October, 2020
The backlash started slowly and quietly in the week leading up to the one shot. Some fans expressed doubt about a heavy-handed sponsorship like this. When the one shot aired on Thursday, October 3rd, the criticism intensified."Many fans were upset about what Wendy’s represents – they have come under fire in recent years for not treating their farm workers fairly, among other things, and this goes against the ethos that the Critical Role community espouses."
Some European fans were still able to watch the one shot on demand on Twitch on Friday, but the episode was removed later that day. On October 6, 2019 all tweets in relation to the one shot had been removed and all mentions of the episode were removed from the fall schedule post on the official Critical Role websiteThe Critical Role Wendy's Controversy Explained by TheD20Speakeasy, accessed 12 October 2020.
==Initial reactions==
The fandom was divided in reaction to the episode. Some loved it and found it hilarious, while others were uncomfortable with the overtness of the sponsorship and how blatantly it dictated the entire episode. Few people in the fandom pointed out that it wasn't first corporate sponsorship Critical Role had taken one. Others argued that CR cast and crew had the responsibility to better vet their sponsors before committing to a partnership.
Fans who watched the episode live are said to have enjoyed themselves a lot in Twitch chat"I was in the chat during the game and everyone had a blast." a comment by Patronofdragons left on "The Critical Role Wendy's Controversy Explained," accessed 12 October 2020. Initial posts on Tumblr were also focused on the hilarity of the episodewendy's one shot tag on Tumblr, accessed 14 October 2020. Some fans freely admitted that they found the episode funny, but were uncomfortable with a big corporation, having nothing in common with Critical Role, using it as an advertising platformReddit comment by SimplyQuid, accessed 12 October 2020. There were also accusations that "Critical Role sold out."
Some fans, who later admitted to hating the episode, attempted to prove that Matt Mercer was uncomfortable with the one shot by pointing out certain facial expressions and reactions to what was happening in the adventureReddit comment by Modredastal, accessed 13 October 2020 and as validation of the idea that the one shot was as forced as it felt to them.
In a Reddit post dedicated to the One shot the majority of commenters put the blame for the backlash on Twitter fans who tweeted at the cast (and Matt in particular) with their complaints. Some fans went as far as drawing a distinction between Critters (being the fans who complained about the one shot) and the rest of the fans.
==Later reactions==
Youtuber TheD20Speakeasy in his The Critical Role Wendy's Controversy Explained video, posted on 12 October 2019, speculated that there were two reasons for the fandom outrage:
* Wendy's donates to the Trump campaign/Republican campaigns while the Critical Role fandom and the cast itself is very left-leaning (when it comes to American politics) and heavily favors LGBTQ causes. This made some fans question why would CR partner with a company with such opposite views. This theory appears to be confirmed by some of the Reddit users in the Critical Role subreddit"While I'm pretty indifferent, my main worry is PR. CR has managed to cultivate a very left-leaning and (crucially) politically conscious fan base on the whole (it's one of the reasons I love the community) and something like this would not look great to the people who are very deep in those spheres." - one of Reddit comments, accessed 13 October 2020
* Fair Food Program and Wendy's insistence on withholding from the program. Fans did not like CR partnering with someone who disregarded human rights.
TheD20Speakeasy also pointed out that no matter how much Critical Role feels like a family, they are a business and some parts of the fandom seem to forget that. He also joined the voices in the fandom who disagreed with CR scrubbing the Wendy's content completely from all of their spaces.
A lot of non-American fans were confused by the controversy, due to lack of Wendy's presence in their countries. They were unfamiliar with Wendy's policies and generally considered the partnership to be a good thing"I’m not American so I can’t comment on Wendy’s policies but I would have thought a globally recognised brand offering our “nerdy ass voice actors” sponsorship is a good thing and that the money will be used for the betterment of CR." - a Reddit comment by bradz7584, accessed 12 October 2020.
Some fans argued that they didn't like the episode not because of the Wendy's involvement, but because it did not live up to the quality they were used to. One fans said:
==Fandom Criticism of the Backlash==
Some fans disagreed with the backlash itself, complaining that fans were "screaming on twitter like an overzealous entitled douchebag about the whole thing"Youtube comment by Samoclese, accessed 12 October, 2020.
On Reddit, in various (now locked) discussion threads, some fans argued that anger over Wendy's being a bad MegaCorp was ridiculous because Critical Role had worked with big corporations in the past. They pointed out that Amazon, Google, Wizards of the Coast and Blizzard all contributed to CR success directly or indirectly, and they are all big corporations. Forgiving misgivings of one corporation due to some sort of "nerd cred" but crying "sell out" when it's Wendy's didn't make sense in their eyes.Reddit comment by invaderzam4, accessed 13 October 2020 In fact, in some arguments, the criticism was likened to gatekeepingReddit comment by rawbamatic, accessed 13 October 2020.
==Lasting Results==
On the Critical Role subreddit, the topic has been heavily monitored, with mods locking down that topic.
Some fans, unable to watch the episode in the Twitch archives, looked for alternative uploads so they could watch itLooking for Latest Deleted Critical Role Wendy's One-Shot From Twitch Reddit post, accessed 12 October 2020.
Some fans expressed the hope that Critical Role wouldn't do one shots like this too oftenReddit comment by SwellSkelto, accessed 13 October 2020, or at all, in the future.
The reactions to the controversy appear to follow somewhat the general divide within the Critical Role fandom, with Reddit fans being okay with the concept of the one shot and Twitter/Tumblr fans criticizing the partnership with Wendy's.
==Additional Reading==
* Why the Critical Role/Wendy's One Shot is such a "BIGGIE DEAL"...
==References==
Category:Critical Role