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Think about everything you’ve bought in the last six months, specifically the big purchases. When was the last time you didn’t start a shopping trip with a Google search? If your answer is anything close to “I can’t remember,” you’re in good company. Every year, over 2.8 trillion search queries are made on Google alone.

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Brands use social media for a lot of things: to distribute content, to share news, to provide customer service.

And sometimes, brands use social media for jokes, burns, and unmitigated sass.

When brand accounts share personality and humor on social media, it’s delightful — and it captivates the collective internet. It’s funny when brand accounts use social media like the real people behind the copy, and it breaks up the monotony of the negativity and mistrust that characterizes a lot of people’s feelings about their social feeds.

So we’ve rounded up 12 brand accounts to share the burns, the jokes, and the GIFs that make these sassy profiles some of our favorites online.

12 of the Sassiest Brands on Social Media

1) MoonPie

No list of sassy brand social media accounts is complete without MoonPie — the vintage snack cake that started garnering a lot more attention on Twitter for its quirky insights — and burns — after launching a Twitter beef with Hostess Snacks over whose treat was the official snack of the solar eclipse in the summer of 2017.

MoonPie is never afraid to wade into hotly contested debates, like the still-raging critique of Twitter doubling its character limit to 280.

This account has been asked to test Twitter’s new 280 character limit, but as a 100-year-old brand, we believe our fans most enjoy traditional tweets with brevity, so we declined. We hope to continue to provide a fun, positive place to discuss MoonPies moving forward. Thank you.

— MoonPie (@MoonPie)
September 27, 2017

But remember, it’s not all fun and games — MoonPie’s witty social media manager has feelings, too.

“You’re a social media manager who posts bad jokes about MoonPies all day anyone could do your job”

First of all I have feelings

— MoonPie (@MoonPie)
October 17, 2017

2) Helper

… as in, Hamburger Helper. Helper likes to wade into the social media muck by savagely burning people back when they try to make fun of the quick and easy meal brand — like so:

Simply put, Helper tells it like it is — and helps followers confront critical conflicts within their families and their kitchens.

I don’t eat hamburger, but even I can get on board with this level of hilarity from a brand on social media.

3) Tesco Mobile

Tesco Mobile is a mobile phone provider in the United Kingdom, and from what I can tell from customer complaints on Twitter, its cellular coverage might not be the best in the biz. It makes up for dropped calls, however, by coming back with hilarious takes and jabs in response to the haters.

Seriously, don’t make fun of Tesco Mobile lightly — be prepared for them to come into your mentions with a fiery reply that mocks everything about you.

4) Discovery

Normally, Discovery‘s social media content showcases stories about history, geography, and cute animals, like in this tweet:

Photo of the Day: Happy #HugABearDay! We don’t suggest hugging any real bears. Leave that to the professionals, like these polar bears. http://pic.twitter.com/7bp2BjCu0G

— Discovery (@Discovery)
November 7, 2017

Which is why it was so unexpectedly hilarious when, after the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team tried making a joke about the average height of a penguin to contradict Discovery’s estimate, Discovery came back with a vengeance:

For context, the Penguins had just been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs … ouch. We hope they had some ice on hand for that burn.

5) Brooklinen

Last week, Brooklinen sent this email to HubSpot Marketing Director Debbie Farese. At first glance, it appears to be a test email that Digital Marketing Intern Mark accidentally sent to Brooklinen’s entire list, advertising its upcoming sale on sheets.

Our team gawked at the email, lamenting what we were sure would be a swift end to Mark’s digital marketing career — until we did some investigation on Twitter and found this incriminating tweet.

Mark right now. http://pic.twitter.com/lNNnxAd2PF

— brooklinen (@Brooklinen)
November 17, 2017

We realized we had all been tricked by a clever marketing ruse designed to drum up attention — and give subscribers early access to Brooklinen’s sale.

Well played, Brooklinen. Well played.

6) Denny’s

Denny’s got in on a popular Twitter meme that tricks the viewer into repeatedly zooming in on spots on a picture to read secret messages — try it for yourself.

zoom in on the syrup http://pic.twitter.com/omRBupjrXq

— Denny’s (@DennysDiner)
March 1, 2017

But Denny’s also tweets clever remarks commenting on hot topics circulating — like the running joke of 2017, when social media accounts kept creating different ways to copy Snapchat Stories:

waffles in 2017 will now have stories http://pic.twitter.com/7ouQS75PSq

— Denny’s (@DennysDiner)
April 6, 2017

But they always find a way to infuse breakfast foods into their sassy tweets and memes — like this one.

you’ve heard of elf on a shelf now get ready for http://pic.twitter.com/NLYRvUw90n

— Denny’s (@DennysDiner)
September 18, 2017

7) Merriam-Webster

Merriam-Webster uses Twitter mostly to share interesting trends and articles about unique word definitions — but most tweets are usually accompanied by a very niche GIF or reference to pop culture, like this one:

‘Werewolf’ is the #WordOfTheDay https://t.co/0oM3GoFoWh http://pic.twitter.com/gqpTzRJw7f

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster)
October 31, 2017

The dictionary’s social media manager also likes to subtly comment-without-commenting on current events taking over the news by tying it into the context of word definitions — see what I mean?

📈Both ‘collusion’ and ‘indictment’ are among our top lookups today. https://t.co/zSfW3Cf2rK

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster)
October 30, 2017

What’s the definition of the word “shade”?

8) Charmin

Charmin has a hilarious series of tweets called #TweetsfromtheSeat about — you guessed it — sitting on the toilet. Its tongue-in-cheek bathroom humor will definitely make your day — and make you remember Charmin the next time you go to pick up some TP.

#WithoutMyMorningCoffee tweeting from the seat would take a lot longer. 💩

— Charmin (@Charmin)
January 19, 2017

But make no mistake, Charmin shares important news stories in its vertical, too.

If the #MadPooper turns herself in, we’ll give her a year’s supply of TP to help with her “runs” 💩 #EnjoyTheGohttps://t.co/GgEAyYp6aM

— Charmin (@Charmin)
September 20, 2017

Who says 💩jokes are just for kids?

9) Wendy’s

Wendy’s became famous this year for starting beefs (get it?) with anyone and everyone it could on social media. It all started with this innocent tweet, advertising its policy of only serving fresh beef.

Our beef is way too cool to ever be frozen. 😎 http://pic.twitter.com/QuXECJtlq5

— Wendy’s (@Wendys)
December 30, 2016

This Twitter user tried to start a Twitter battle with Wendy’s, and clearly, they had no idea what they were in for:

Owned.

And while Wendy’s sometimes uses social media for good, old-fashioned Biology 101 jokes …

Powerhouse babyyyyyy https://t.co/RTUZXyVuSq

— Wendy’s (@Wendys)
October 20, 2017

… its social media sass is best reserved for people (and other restaurants) that dare hint its food is anything but #1.

10) Bangor Maine Police Department

I’m from a little town called Portland, Maine, so when I started seeing news stories about Bangor, Maine’s charming Facebook account, I was overjoyed.

Police Sargeant Tom Cotton writes the Bangor PD’s lengthy status updates, featuring long-winded stories that feature jokes, some friendly mockery, and all-around laughs.

You can click to expand this one, or you can just read my favorite line:

“It’s your day on in the comment section of the world’s most marginally famous Police Department Facebook page. We heard that Zuckerberg reads it (that’s a lie).”

Or this one:

“For those of us in Maine? We will soon have the distinct privilege of leaving for work in the dark as well as returning to our homes in the dark. I also turn the analog bathroom scale back 10 pounds this time of year…or only look at it in the dark. Might as well make this enjoyable.”

These updates all contain stories, warnings, and advice for Bangor, Maine residents — all wrapped up in hilariously-written statuses.

“It should be noted that cats tend to come down out of trees when they make a decision to do so. Pleading with a cat to return to terra firma is done purely to please those standing around and looking up. It’s a public relations move which makes people feel warm inside, but cats are cats.”

11) BuzzFeed Books

BuzzFeed has nailed creating different profiles and outlet for its fans’ myriad interests, and BuzzFeed Books focuses on news and stories in the literary world.

For the most part. The account had some words (but only a few) about the expansion of Twitter’s character limit:

if you think 280 characters is exciting, try reading a book

— BuzzFeed Books (@BuzzFeedBooks)
November 7, 2017

12) Pop-Tarts

I love Pop-Tarts. (Did you know they’re vegan?) I also love the way the brand refuses to let anyone disgrace its name with unconscionable food preparation choices — like this one:

Or this one:

The robots are coming here.

We know — we’ve been over this. Messenger and live chat are quickly becoming customers’ preferred methods of communication. And for both, bots are often the first line of defense: the triaging system that connects the user to the right human being who can solve the problem … if it even needs to get to that point.

In other words, bots are eliminating some level of need for human labor.

It’s a hotly-contested point, one that’s met with a lot of questions rooted in concern.

“Is my job in danger?”

“Will I be replaced?“

“A bot can’t do everything — what about the creative stuff?”

Aha. It’s that last question that often sparks the most debate around here.

Is artificial intelligence capable of truly creative work?

As it turns out, there’s no truly definitive answer. There have been cases when the response is, “Of course,” and those where attempts to make an AI-powered presence creative fell completely flat.

So, we sought out to find instances of both. There are quite a few — some amusing, and some horrendous. Here are seven of the best examples we could find.

The Fails

1) Microsoft: Tay

Oh, boy. Where to begin, with this one?

Here’s the thing about machine learning: Typically, if it works properly, it’s designed to function based on its users. Sometimes, that can be a good thing, like when Spotify’s algorithm uses your listening behavior to curate playlists of songs it thinks you might like.

But in the case of Tay.ai, a Twitter bot designed by Microsoft to function like any “normal” teenage girl using the social media channel, things went terribly wrong.

The problem is that, as “smart” as it might be, AI isn’t quite capable of establishing its own ethics. Its only sense of right and wrong is what’s dictated by its algorithm, and even then, machine learning AI is still generally informed by the humans it’s determined to engage with. That’s why Russian ads on Facebook, for example, may have been so effective during the 2016 U.S. presidential election — based on users’ behavior on Facebook (likes, follows, comments, clicks, and more), its algorithm is “informed” enough for that content to accurately reach the people it was meant to influence.

Such was the case, somewhat similarly, with Tay. As the story goes, Tay began to emulate the behavior — or in this case, the language used in tweets — of the users engaging with it. Unfortunately, that language was charged with anti-Semitic and anti-feminist sentiment, causing Tay to tweet out such offensive content that Microsoft had to take it offline.

Source: Quora

2) IBM: Chef Watson

I like to call this one “The Great Chocolate Burrito Incident of 2015.” That same year, Watson — the IBM AI robot that once beat a reigning Jeopardy champion — became “Chef Watson” and released its first cookbook. Watson developed the recipes almost completely independently using its flavor algorithm, with only a bit of help from Institute of Culinary Education human chefs to make a tweak here and there.

There was reason to be optimistic. Prior to the cookbook’s publication, a few tech writers had been sent a complimentary bottle of BBQ that was also formulated by Watson, and earned positive reviews. But then came the Austrian Chocolate Burrito: a recipe with results that ranged from “a bunch of little balls of quasi-dryness in my mouth” to “so bad that I thought it had to be good.”

(It wasn’t all bad — the Washington Post, evidently, had better luck with the same recipe.)

We have yet to test the recipes ourselves, but in the meantime, um … bon appétit?

3) Research Scientist Janelle Shane: AI-Named Paint Colors

When someone pens an article about AI titled, “We’re Pretty Sure the Robot That Invented These Paint Colors Is a Stoner,” our guess is that it’s about an experiment that either went very well or very wrong.

In this case, it bordered on the latter. When research scientist Janelle Shane trained a neural network to create new paint colors — which are already so interestingly named, like my favorite, Benjamin Moore’s “Custis Salmon” — the results were … different. The AI was designed to create new shades, and assign names to them, but the two were often mismatched.

Case in point:

So, maybe that last one on the list is, um, fitting. But how does one explain the pinkish hue of “Grass Bat,” or the bluish-purple one of “Caring Tan?”

Maybe we just don’t have the artistic eye to appreciate these, but until we do, we’ll go ahead and categorize this one as “not quite a success.”

4) Oscar Sharp and Ross Goodwin: Sunspring

Have you ever wondered what would happen if scripts from classics like Ghostbusters and the original Bladerunner were fed to a neural network for the purpose of creating an original, entirely AI-written screenplay?

The results can be summarized by Sunspring, a short film that was acted and filmed entirely as the machine that wrote it intended. We’ll let the work speak for itself …

… as well as our team’s response when it was shared over Slack:

The Successes

5) Primordial Research Project: Hack Rod

Self-driving cars, are making many headlines these days and are even the stuff of high-profile lawsuits. But before the likes of Google, Lyft, and Uber began fighting over who would reign supreme in the area of autonomous vehicles, there was Hack Rod: one of the first artificially intelligent automobiles that had people talking.

The project began as a research-based side gig that was rooted in co-founder Felix Holst’s background at Mattel, where he worked on Hot Wheels toy cars. First, he and co-founder Mouse McCoy built a team to create a high-performance race car, which was later driven by a human through the Mojave Desert. That’s where the cool part comes in: The team was able to capture the driver’s brainwaves. That, combined with information collected from sensors placed within the vehicle itself, was converted into data that served as a foundation for the machine learning that would create what Fast Company once referred to as the car’s “nervous system.”

Hack Rod has been noticeably absent from recent self-driving headlines, but there’s little doubt that it paved the way — if you’ll excuse the pun — for autonomous vehicles to come. 

6) Manny Tan & Kyle McDonald: The Infinite Drum Machine

We’ve heard cases of AI-created musical composition, like Emily Howell, the classical-music-composing machine created by UCSC Professor Emeritus David Cope.

But we haven’t come across as many examples of AI-powered musical composition that allows the user to create its own audible masterpiece. That’s where The Infinite Drum Machine comes in: an AI experiment that uses machine learning to capture thousands of sounds we hear in day-to-day life, like a bag of potato chips opening or a file cabinet opening, and organizes them to create percussive patterns.

And thanks to Google’s AI Experiments site, everyday tech nerds like us can play with it. 

7) Google Creative Lab: AutoDraw

Okay, the jury might be out on this one. We’re calling it a win, because it makes for a fun way to pass the time, say, while putting off one’s blog-writing duties.

AutoDraw, another Google AI experiment, helps novice artists — er, those who like to doodle on the internet — create better quality images with the help of machine learning.

For example, here’s what happened when I tried using it to draw a picture of my dachshund-mix dog:

Cute! After about 50 seconds, AutoDraw figured out that I may have been drawing a dachshund. But here’s what happened when I tried to replicate its own work:

Granted, I’m not exactly a brilliant artist — but I did find it interesting that AutoDraw couldn’t recognize the subject of its own work being copied.

So, is AI capable of creativity? Sure. But in terms of its ability to completely replicate what a human mind might do — write a screenplay, accurately create and name paint colors, or emulate a teenage girl without offending the masses — it’s not quite there yet.

Are we on our way? Probably. But in the meantime, we’ll be preparing our popcorn and watching Sunspring on repeat.