Duolingo's mascot death stunt: Genius or confusing?

Two weeks ago, the world lost a legend. The death of Duo the Owl, the famed Duolingo mascot, rocked the internet. There were eulogies, brand condolences and even fellow mascots who celebrated the death of a competitor. 

But then, following in the footsteps of Mr. Peanut's death and later rebirth, Duo the Owl came back to life on Monday, leaving many of its users and fans to wonder what the social media stunt was all about. 

Duolingo announced in a heartfelt message across its social platforms on February 11 that Duo, formally known as Duo the Duolingo Owl, had died from an unknown cause. The post was seen by 142 million X users, according to the platform’s analytics, and liked by over 766,000 people. 

The same statement shared to Instagram was liked by over 2.1 million people and featured comments from brands such as Walmart, FedEx, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and Five Guys.

an important message from Duolingo pic.twitter.com/jTTT680yVs

— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 11, 2025

It was revealed later that day that the mascot was hit by a Cybertruck, a Tesla vehicle whose CEO Elon Musk also happens to own social media platform X. 

Brands, including X itself, immediately jumped in on the action, poking fun at the green owl’s death. The Empire State Building simply reposted the original statement with the word “good,” while Netflix created a Squid Game-like leader board, eliminating Duo the Owl. 

Hootsuite, which also has an owl mascot, replied “good riddance,” and the World Health Organization confirmed that Duo’s cause of death was definitely not small pox—for those who were concerned. 

In lieu of flowers commemorating the green owl’s life, Duolingo asked its users to do a Duolingo lesson instead.

In lieu of flowers, please do a Duolingo lesson. pic.twitter.com/4CTl2Jc6Oe

— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 11, 2025

While the purpose of killing off its infamous mascot remained unclear, the app began prompting its users to channel their grief by unlocking more about the investigation through completing lessons. 

“Together, if we really try, we can bring Duo back,” Duolingo said in an X post on February 12. 

Then things really got weird. 

Two days after news of Duo’s death spread, other characters in the Duolingo universe similarly began dying off in what appeared to be a targeted mass attack. 

We believe in transparency and wanted to share this heartbreaking update. We are investigating and want to keep all informed. #RipDuo #RipEveryone

vocals by: @ aliciakamara_ and @ fatmata042 on TikTok pic.twitter.com/rpU9r0apLv

— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 13, 2025

Fellow Duolingo characters Falstaff, a bear, was killed via illegal hunting; Zari, a teenage girl, died from lack of a bidet in the office’s bathroom; and Lily, a goth teen, passed away from a “sincere hug by a cute child.”

Before their mascot bodies even became cold, Duolingo began commercialising their deaths, announcing to its followers that they could purchase a Duo Coffin Plushie, featuring each of the characters in their dead form, encased in colourful cardboard coffins. 

Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn, also known as “Duo’s Daddy,” confirmed in a video statement to X on February 14 that Duo the Owl’s streak on earth, as well as every Duolingo character, had ended. 

Duolingo returned to social media the following Monday to share a new lead in the mystery of Duo’s death: bringback.duolingo.com. The website tracked the top 15 countries working to save Duo before it's too late with the ultimate goal of reaching 50 billion XP, or experience points, which are used as the app’s primary currency to track a person’s progress in learning a language. 

Upon Duo’s resurrection, the US took home the gold in highest participation at 6.1 billion XP, followed by Germany and Brazil. 

Duo the Owl officially returned to the world on February 24, symbolically rising from his coffin in the bed of a pickup truck with the tagline: “Legends never die.”

y’all really think i’d let a cybertruck take me out? #duolingohasrisen pic.twitter.com/ndGA4F9kGB

— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 24, 2025

The language-learning platform posted again later that day that Duo’s death was a test and we all passed. But was it?

faking my death was the test and you all passed pic.twitter.com/SHbsaCsEqk

— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 24, 2025

Now that Duo is back from the dead, it remains to be seen if the stunt was truly a success...