More than 60 million people played fantasy football in 2025, representing more than 1/6 of the U.S. population. While fantasy football began in the 1960’s, a “punishment” for finishing in last place of one’s league has only become more commonplace in the last 15-20 years. One of the most popular punishments in recent years has been spending 24 consecutive hours at a Waffle House or IHOP, which each pancake consumed taking an hour off the time commitment.
During the 2025 NFL season, one of the players who was projected as one of the top fantasy scorers in football was Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers, a second-year player coming off of a tremendous rookie season. However, Nabers suffered a torn ACL in his team’s 4th game of a 17-game season. The injury was season ending, leaving fantasy owners of the wide out scrambling to fill a gaping hole in their lineups for the more than 75% of the remaining schedule. The result was that a number of these teams finished their seasons poorly in the standings, including in last place. 
Displaying an acute ability for social listening, IHOP recently came out with a commercial embracing the “punishment” trend. The ad features Nabers, who pokes fun at himself for his disappointing season and receives the ire of several people, including a wise-cracking waitress and a disgruntled little boy. IHOP could easily have decided to avoid any brand association with being used as a punishment. But, instead, they leaned into it, marketing directly to losers of their fantasy league with a promotion surrounding free, bottomless pancakes with the purchase of select breakfast combinations and featuring one of the most disappointing players of the season in Nabers. In doing so, the brand took advantage of the moment – image be damned – and ingratiated themselves with legions of fantasy football players, who either finished last this year or very well may finish last sometime in the future. 
While what IHOP did with their campaign is in no way unique, it is a very prominent current example of the benefits of social listening. Social listening encapsulates the necessity of being aware of what people are saying about an organization’s brand to see, understand, and respond to concerns, frustrations, and other feedback – positive or negative – that will serve to make the brand more responsive, visible, and positively received. In this age of viral videos and global communication, being adept at social listening should not just be a goal for marketers and PR professionals, it’s a necessity.
Embracing a Negative: How Effective Social Listening Can Boost Brands
