语言学习应用Duolingo宣布其猫头鹰吉祥物Duo“死亡”，这被认为是该公司的一次宣传噱头。Duolingo在社交媒体上发布了这一消息，并开玩笑说当局正在调查此事。该帖子还暗示Duo可能是因为用户没有及时完成课程而“死亡”。此举在互联网上引发了大量的玩笑和表情包。Duolingo长期以来一直倾向于互联网文化，将其猫头鹰吉祥物定位为有点精神错乱的形象。这次“杀死”吉祥物只是其品牌推广的又一个例子，类似于五年前Planters“杀死”花生先生的做法。尽管Duo“死亡”了，但预计它很快就会以某种形式回归。

🦉Duolingo宣布其标志性的猫头鹰吉祥物Duo“死亡”，并在社交媒体上发布消息，引发了广泛关注和讨论，这无疑是一场精心策划的宣传活动。

📱Duolingo的帖子中充满了黑色幽默，暗示Duo的死因可能是因为用户没有及时完成课程，并调侃用户分享对Duo的负面评论时，请附上信用卡信息以订阅Duolingo Max，进一步引发了网友的恶搞和玩梗。

🎭Duolingo的这一举动并非首创，五年前Planters也曾“杀死”其花生先生吉祥物，随后进行了品牌重塑。预计Duolingo也会采取类似策略，在不久的将来以某种形式复活Duo。

Duolingo, the language-learning app, killed off its owl mascot named Duo on Tuesday in what is assuredly some kind of publicity stunt.

In fact, here were are writing about it. So, well played, Duolingo.

Duolingo posted the news on social media.

"It is with heavy hearts that we inform you that Duo, formally known as The Duolingo Owl, is dead," the company's post reads, while joking that authorities were investigating the matter.

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"[To be honest], he probably died waiting for you to do your lesson, but what do we know," the post contined. "We're aware he had many enemies, but we kindly ask that you refrain from sharing why you hate him in the comments. If you feel inclined to share, please also include your credit card number so we can automatically sign you up for Duolingo Max in his memory."

The internet, predictably, made jokes and memes about Duolingo killing off its mascot. The company itself retweeted posts from gossip sites about it.

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Duolingo has long leaned-in to internet culture, positioning its owl mascot and brand accounts as unhinged — or as unhinged as corporate comms gets. Killing off its mascot is just another example of that branding.

In fact, it's not really even an original stunt. Planters killed off Mr. Peanut ahead of the Super Bowl five years ago. This was, of course, just a method for launching a mascot rebrand.

So, sure, Duo the owl is dead. But I suspect it'll be back soon, in one form or another.