Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are more popular than Coca-Cola and Oreo on social media
We at the The A.V. Club have long been dedicated to bringing our audience every bit of news we can find about the beautiful friendship between Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. We’ve dutifully reported on their Halloween, Christmas, and Super Bowl photos, as well as that time Stewart taught the world how to do a quadruple take. Of course, we aren’t the only ones delighted by their loving bond, as the septuagenarians are nothing less than social media savants. And with little more than the occasional hashtag, they’ve proved more popular than even stalwart brands like Oreo and Coke on various social media platforms for the past six months.
During the run of their recent Broadway productions of No Man’s Land and Waiting For Godot, the duo took it upon themselves to explore New York in their Godot hats and take photos holding hands in front of Stonewall, yelling on payphones, being adorably terrified on a ferris wheel, and generally being “homies forever.” According to AdWeek, over the past six months their delightful photos collected more than 600 million “impressions” across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Indeed, Stewart’s video of the two celebrating New Year’s Eve together basically justifies the creation of Instagram as a platform.
During the six-month run of their plays, Stewart garnered about 500,000 retweets and favorites on Twitter. Meanwhile, social media juggernaut Oreo earned only 46,300 retweets and favorites during the same period. And McKellen has come to dominate Facebook, where his 2.7 million likes, shares, and comments easily bested Coca-Cola’s 1.2 million of the same during the past six months. Ever the gentlemen, McKellen tweeted the news of his social media dominance while also claiming “no offense” to Coke and Oreo, reminding his audience that they are both #excellentproducts.
While companies are desperately seeking younger and younger employees to serve as social media mavens, the 73-year-old Stewart and the 74-year-old McKellen seem to know exactly what people want on to see: adorable best friend photos taken by charming British thespians—even if they are absolutely terrible at playing The Newlywed Game.