Small and big businesses alike took part in the Valentine's Day celebration, surely in an effort to stay relevant and to experience a little bit of joy on the big day.
But some businesses were more successful than others. Like, some got some "Likes" or even sold a few products. Others, like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), were blamed for coups.
Trying to be cute for the holiday, the agency shared a coded message, asking their followers if they could decipher it.
Can you decipher this code? #Trivia #Game https://t.co/UkIu2jMQoJ— CIA (@CIA)1613149606.0
Later, they shared a little "Roses are Red" rendition poem.
Which was the answer to their cipher.
A few people thought it was pretty cute.
A few others were (jokingly) suspicious of what was coming next.
But most people took the opportunity to write their own "Roses are Red" poems for the CIA.
And some of these poems were downright brutal.
The CIA may "know" a lot of things, but they surely never saw this one coming.
Their efforts to be all cute and cuddly this Valentine's Day weekend backfired.
It looks like they weren't the popular kid in class this year.
It seems like a pretty safe bet that they won't be getting a Valentine in return this year, either.
There's really no telling what brought this on.
Maybe their marketing team thought it would be fun or a way to gain followers or rebrand their image or recruit new agents?
Maybe they were aiming for a little levity with the aftershocks of 2020.
Whatever their reasoning, Twitter wasn't feeling it.
They accepted it about as well as the classroom kids used to accept the Valentine's Day cards from their fellow classmates who didn't pair it with candy, or who bought the cheap stuff (in case you missed out on this classroom tradition these kids weren't too happy when that happened).
Maybe if the CIA made this an annual tradition, it might be better-received. Some people might even begin to look forward to it.
But with their track record... they would have to supply their followers with the best Valentine's cards and best candy before they could get past all of these burns and start winning them over.
@GavinNewsom/X
