Amazon is buying Whole Foods, and somehow it's Alexa's fault
Soon after news of the $13.7 billion deal, plenty of social media jokesters have the same idea: Jeff Bezos must have mumbled into his Amazon Echo.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Online retailer Amazon is buying fancy food market Whole Foods, and Twitter couldn't let the $13.7 billion marriage of these two iconic brand names go without humorous comment.
But one joke dominated the social media snark. Many (too many) people envisioned just how the purchase went down, with Amazon boss Jeff Bezos using one of his products, the Amazon Echo smart speaker powered by voice assistant Alexa, and accidentally ending up with a grocery chain.
This could be a really far-sighted strategic deal, *or* Jeff Bezos’ Alexa might have just made the biggest accidental purchase of all time.
— Anil Dash (@anildash) June 16, 2017
Bezos: "Alexa, buy me something from Whole Foods"
— Jeff Lewis (@ChicagoPhotoSho) June 16, 2017
Alexa: "Buying Whole Foods"
Bezos: Shit
Jeff Bezos: "Alexa, buy me something from Whole Foods."
— JESAL (@JesalTV) June 16, 2017
Alexa: "Sure, Jeff. Buying Whole Foods now."
Jeff Bezos: "WHA- ahh go ahead." pic.twitter.com/GuJ2jlAiuU
Joke going around trading desks: "Jeff Bezos said to Alexa, 'Buy me something on Whole Foods,' and Alexa bought Whole Foods." $AMZN $WFM
— Bob Pisani (@BobPisani) June 16, 2017
"Alexa: Buy Whole Foods" has overtaken "Uber is now a self-driving company" for most overused joke this week.
— Lord of the Trap (@trainstobrazil) June 16, 2017
right now there are about 10000 tweets with the same "alexa buy me something from whole foods" joke. good luck to whichever one wins
— leon (@leyawn) June 16, 2017
Jeff: Alexa - buy me a whole lotta food
— Benny Wong (@bdotdub) June 16, 2017
Alexa: Okay. Buying Whole Foods
Jeff: No no no wait https://t.co/qmkcQjZYUO
Might be interesting to analyse all the tweets making the ‘Alexa, buy whole foods’ joke. Lots went viral: why those ones in particular?
— Benedict Evans (@BenedictEvans) June 16, 2017
Yes, some other jokes did make the rounds, like the ones poking at Whole Foods' pricey "Whole Paycheck" reputation.
#Amazon spent $13.7 billion at Whole Foods I know what it feels like, I've shopped there too
— Mark Lewis (@MLewisLawyer) June 16, 2017
So Amazon purchased Whole Foods for nearly $14B? What a coincidence, that's exactly how much it costs to shop there per week! Yay.
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) June 16, 2017
"I just spent my whole paycheck on Whole Foods." —Jeff Bezos
— J.R. McGrail 📎 (@JRMcGrail) June 16, 2017
Jeff Bezos spent $13.7 billion on Whole Foods...yeah he bought a large guacamole and a fruit cup
— 🍍 Dollars Horton 🍍 (@crushingbort) June 16, 2017
I too spend $13 billion on Whole Foods, you're not special Jeff Bezos!!! https://t.co/aw2cJWrvex
— Maya Kosoff (@mekosoff) June 16, 2017
Like Jeff Bezos is the first dude to spend 13 billion at Whole Foods smh
— Ira LaFontaine™ (@jailblazin) June 16, 2017
To be fair, Whole Foods asked for either $13.7 billion in cash or three bags of Whole Foods groceries, whichever was more. https://t.co/7HNDC2Ygg9
— RandBall (@RandBall) June 16, 2017
GIFs were popular.
#Amazon be like pic.twitter.com/13Gj8rfGM2
— sean thakur (@thakursush) June 16, 2017
Jeff Bezos:"Alexa buy something healthy from Whole Foods"
— World Wide Broadcast (@wwbcmedia) June 16, 2017
Alexa: Did you say buy Whole Foods?
Jeff Bezos: Why the hell not pic.twitter.com/avJj7a4L7f
Some envisioned Amazon's popular "people who bought..." book feature translating to food.
...people who bought sea salt kale chips also bought organic quinoa tofu... #Amazon
— Pablo Delgado (@pablete) June 16, 2017
we're not even gonna shop for food, alexa will fill your fridge with suggestions based on past meals and old tweets
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) June 16, 2017
[Jeff Bezos' on the Amazon check-out page today]
— ♡ brian essbe ♡ (@SortaBad) June 16, 2017
People who bought Whole Foods also viewed:
- Washington Post
- Barnes and Noble
- Diapers
Some had ideas for Amazon's other ventures.
Amazon studios presents kale bill volume ii
— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) June 16, 2017
Some wondered how the competition was handling the news.
Meanwhile at Trader Joe's #Amazon pic.twitter.com/zF85fMI9Dq
— sean thakur (@thakursush) June 16, 2017
Or just prepared for the inevitable Bezos-ruled future.
AMAZON, 1998: hello we sell books but online
— KRANG T. NELSON (@KrangTNelson) June 16, 2017
AMAZON, 2023: please return to your Primehouse for your nightly Primemeal, valued Primecitizen
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