the Life and Death of a Corporate Mascot

Anna Yue
Apr 3
3 min read

Updated: Apr 2

By Liliana Chai and Lauren Law April 2, 2025

Rain pours over a sea of black umbrellas, mourners trudge through the mud, a lone violin cries in the wind and the crowd whispers tearful goodbyes to the dearly departed—none other than Duo, the relentless owl mascot of Duolingo, a popular language-learning app.

Duo Keyshauna Renee Lingo, better recognized as the mascot “Duo,” has been the face of the Duolingo app since its debut in 2011. For years, Duo has made education accessible one terrifying notification at a time, haunting language learners with passive-aggressive reminders. But on Feb. 11, no amount of frantic lesson-cramming could save the infamous green owl. In a shocking turn of events, the Duolingo mascot was declared “dead,” leaving millions to mourn—or perhaps, breathe a sigh of relief.

Duolingo structures lessons into small, manageable challenges, allowing users to complete tasks and move up through levels. One of the app’s key features is its streak system, which tracks how many consecutive days a user has been on the app to encourage daily practice. Users can also create friend streaks, motivating each other to keep their “flame” alive while working towards their language-learning goals. Furthermore, Duolingo includes game-like elements such as points, levels and rewards, adding extra layers of excitement and motivation to the learning process.

Duolingo has shot to popularity within recent years, amassing over 100 million users by 2024 from 40 million in 2021, as per Daily Bruin. The outlet further reports that it utilizes clever marketing tactics, such as the art of guilt-tripping and establishing notable attention for Duo's moxy through the presence of memes on social media platforms. The app sends notifications with messages like “Don’t break your streak!” or “Your lesson awaits,” displaying an angry, pouty Duo if a user misses too many days. These notifications are designed to prey on users’ emotions, tapping into a sense of responsibility and guilt to encourage consistent app usage.

“Duolingo’s streak reminders and push notifications, like Duo sadly reminding you not to break your streak, can make it feel like you are letting the owl down. It creates unnecessary pressure and stress and almost turns language learning into an obligation rather than an enjoyable activity,” Senior Katie Nguyen said.

The announcement of Duo’s death in a company tweet took Duolingo’s marketing strategy to a new, dramatic level, with a witty punchline that remarked “Tbh, he probably died waiting for you to do your lesson.” It was later revealed that Duo’s death was at the fault of the one and only Tesla Cybertruck—a speculation to appeal to Gen Z followers’ distaste for the trucks—in which the vehicle slammed into the owl in a parking lot, immediately sending it to the heavens. In response to the news, influencers, corporations and internet users flooded social media with memes, humorous condolences and insightful commentary.

Continuing on Feb. 14, Duolingo posted a challenge on its app and social media. Users were encouraged to complete daily lessons to help resurrect the mascot. Finally, two weeks after the incident, Duo himself arose from the dead and claimed that faking his death was part of a test, which everyone had fortunately passed.

“Duo’s cheeky personality builds layers of engagement, making the app feel more personal for users. Whether through a fake death or referencing popular shows like ‘Arcane’ and ‘Squid Game,’ the company is quick to pick up on Gen-Z's meme culture and trends, which creates a sense of relatability and authenticity for a younger audience,” Sophomore Saachi Basavaraju said.

And so, after the dramatic funeral and the emotional rollercoaster, Duo is back alive and well, ready to continue guilt-tripping users into keeping their streaks intact. As users continue their language-learning journeys, they can rest easy knowing that Duo, in all its feathery glory, will keep them on their toes—remember, keep those streaks going!

About the Contributors

Liliana Chai is a sophomore at Leland High School. She is a staff writer for the 2024-25 Charger Account. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, playing piano, writing poetry and sleeping.