The Summer Dunkin’ Turned Cringey: When Dunkin’ Tried to Join the Conversation, and Failed Miserably

By Marina Berger

Read the room, Dunkin’! 

Dunkin’s new ad featuring The Summer I Turned Pretty actor Gavin Casalegno was a swing and a miss. While numerous brands achieved successful engagement by latching on to the show’s skyrocketing popularity this past summer, there was a right and wrong way to do it. 

Unfortunately, Dunkin’ went with the wrong approach.

So, where did Dunkin’ go wrong with this campaign? Not only was Casalegno’s character, Jeremiah Fisher, widely disliked amongst the show’s viewers, but was also, to put it quite frankly, cringey and tone deaf. From becoming a super senior in college after missing an important email to cheating on Belly, Jeremiah was simply immature and emotionally unintelligent. In the Dunkin’ ad, Casalegno is lounging in a summer setting that appears to have been pulled straight from the show’s setting: The fictional Cousins Beach, based on Cape Cod. Smirking into the camera, he says, “This tan? Genetics.” However, the objective of the commercial was to promote Dunkin’s new Golden Hour Refresher. Obviously, this disconnect stirred up the wrong kind of attention from the audience.

The cringe factor was not the only thing that made people react poorly to this commercial. Dunkin’s complete lack of awareness of what was happening in the advertising world also raised the audience’s red flags. The ad was released just days after American Eagle launched its “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” commercial, featuring actress Sydney Sweeney. American Eagle stirred up an enormous amount of controversy due to the ad’s shallow and misogynistic messaging, especially after a now-deleted video on the company’s social media has the camera slowly pan down her body, lingering on her chest.  

When Dunkin’ released a campaign about how Casalegno’s perfect golden tan is due to “genetics,” audiences were quick to draw comparisons. People ran to social media with comments including “What in the Sydney Sweeney did I just watch?” and “Why are brands suddenly obsessed with genetics?” Some accused Dunkin’ of using racially loaded language, while others just called it lazy marketing. While the ad garnered over 1.8 million views on TikTok, nearly all of the engagement it received was negative. The irony? Dunkin’ was trying to capitalize on a popular cultural trend and, in doing so, completely misread both the show's fandom and the broader social climate.

Let’s get one thing clear: “The Summer I Turned Pretty” was not just a hit show of the summer; it was a cultural reset in the television industry. Nearly 200,000 TikToks used the hashtag #TheSummerITurnedPretty within one month of the final season’s premiere, with everyone from the NFL to Universal Pictures hopping on the trend through social media. Amazon Prime Video noted that the show had 25 million viewers during the first few weeks of its third season’s release. Watch parties, episode predictions, and Team Jeremiah vs. Team Conrad debates flooded every online platform. Even people who didn’t watch the show could not avoid hearing about the summer’s newest hot TV topic. 

The show became a “brand playground,” where suddenly every marketing team wanted in. What most brands did right is that they didn't just copy and paste the same idea as another brand; they actually understood the culture surrounding the show. La Croix, Delta Air Lines, and Sour Patch Kids all found creative ways to balance their own branding with the show’s. La Croix posted a video showing a full glass poured for Conrad and only a splash for Jeremiah, poking fun at the fans’ loyalties. Delta’s post playing on the Team Conrad vs. Team Jeremiah rivalry became their most-viewed TikTok in years. Even Mondelēz, the parent company of Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish, released a limited-edition variety pack that aligned each candy with one of the brothers. These brands didn’t force themselves in; they simply participated like fans. They understood that “The Summer I Turned Pretty” wasn’t just a TV show; it was a shared social experience.

That’s exactly where Dunkin’ went wrong. Instead of joining an existing conversation or meme, they tried to reinvent their own narrative around Casalegno and their new drink. Brands that successfully joined in didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Instead, they employed the fans’ language. Fans were already posting their own versions of the trend, like “The summer I spent more than I earned” or “The summer I drank matcha every day,” playing on the show’s title. The format of the videos was silly and relatable. All Dunkin’ had to do was drop a clever “The summer I drank a Dunkalatte every day” post. Instead, they made an overproduced, scripted ad that pretended to be relatable and completely missed what made the trend feel authentic in the first place.

Another big miss was Dunkin’s choice of character. Regardless of whether you’ve seen the show, one must know that Team Conrad absolutely dominated online popularity in this fictional battle of the brothers. So, by centering the ad around Casalegno, Dunkin’ aligned itself with the losing team in the eyes of the fans. To make matters worse, Casalegno tries to project a cool, effortless vibe in the Dunkin’ ad, which is the exact opposite of Jeremiah’s character. For a fanbase that emotionally invested, that kind of mistake did not go unnoticed.

Then there’s the tone. The brands that got it right, like Delta, Sour Patch Kids, and the NFL, managed to be playful by not taking themselves too seriously. They used humor and subtlety to show they were in on the joke. There is no way any player on the LA Chargers knows who Jeremiah or Conrad are, but that’s what makes it unserious and funny. Dunkin’, on the other hand, took itself too seriously. It feels like someone at Dunkin’ said, “Let’s make some Gen Z content,” and then approved a script written by a Millennial who doesn’t have TikTok. The ad misses irony, self-awareness, and connection to what fans were already posting.

As a chronically online advertising student, I find this misfire painful to watch because it’s so easily avoidable. The problem is not that Dunkin’ tried to be culturally relevant; it’s that they didn’t understand what relevant meant at the time. To succeed in the “Summer I Turned Pretty” conversation, brands needed to act like fans, not marketers. Pop culture trends like this aren’t something that can be scheduled into a content calendar; it’s something you join in real time, equipped with a full understanding of popular culture. This is mainly due to the fact that fans are truly able to tell what genuine content is and what is not.

So yes, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” was the show of the summer. It dominated feeds, group chats, and brand activations alike. However, Dunkin’s attempt to capitalize on the trend without doing its pop culture homework turned what could’ve been a trendy, lighthearted campaign into a backfire on the company’s image as a whole. From budding to veteran creatives, the takeaway is simple: you can’t just show up to the conversation, you have to understand it.