# Nuggs for Carter

> A plea for free nuggets broke Twitter’s retweet record with 3.43 million shares.

- Owner: Carter Wilkerson (seed creator); Wendy’s (campaign brand)
- Kind: Creator moment
- Sector: Food & beverage
- Seed date: 2017-04-06
- Peak date: 2017-04-07
- Spread Score: 60 (Viral, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Underdog, Brand pile-on, Platform jump, Press loop, Pairing

## Summary

Carter asked Twitter to help him win free Wendy’s nuggets. Brands joined, television reported the campaign, and agency outreach took the contest to Ellen. He broke her record, and Wendy’s announced free nuggets and a $100,000 charity donation.

## Timeline

- 2017-04-06 — @Wendys (X) — Wendy’s set Carter an 18 million retweet target for a year of free nuggets.
- 2017-04-06 — @carterjwm (X) — Carter posted his exchange with Wendy’s and asked Twitter users to help him get free nuggets.
- 2017-04-06 — @Wendys (X) — Wendy’s quoted Carter’s screenshot plea to its own Twitter audience.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/nuggs-for-carter

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Nuggs for Carter.” Case HIS-00320. Spread Score v1.2: 60/100. Updated 2026-10-13. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00320